Stargate Eldar
by Soulless Reader
Summary: An Eldar Void Stalker ends up in the Stargate universe by accident. How much can the universe change in its wake? What role do they play against coming darkness? DISCONTINUED
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Medusa V was a dying world.

Nine armies had clashed on its surface. Nine armies had arrived on the doomed planet for their own reasons; some had come to protect, some to enslave, some to consume and destroy, some to preserve.

Even as the planet was fought upon, in space a greater threat approached with every passing moment.

Van Grothe's Rapidity. A Warp storm that threatened to swallow the planet within its writhing nightmare. It was once a peaceful and calm storm that was used for quick transportation, but now it had become unstable and was only a moment away from consuming the planet.

Like all Warp storms, Van Grothe's Rapidity was an extremely volatile medium. At times, disturbances could turn areas of the Warp into raging storms of incomprehensibly destructive fury. These storms could last for days or even centuries. Ships caught in these storms, at best, might be blown off course, to emerge thousands of light years off course into uncharted areas of the galaxy. Ships could find themselves trapped inside the Warp, a terrible fate for its passengers as they become playthings for the dark creatures that inhabit the malign realm. Sometimes a ship, after traveling through the Warp for only a short time, will emerge from the Warp and find that centuries have passed in real space. The storms also cut off Warp travel through certain regions, isolating systems for months, years or even centuries.

The planet below had gone relatively quiet; last of the Imperial forces had withdrawn from the system, the tau had retreated, the dark eldar had disappeared back into the Webway, the forces of Chaos had returned into the Warp, the necrons lay broken in the sands, the orks had escaped and the tyranid ships in orbit had become inanimate bulks floating aimlessly, apparently abandoned by the Hive Mind to their fates in the Warp storm.

The eldar had come to Medusa V to stop the necrons from rising again, to kill the leader of the Chaos forces, Ygethmor - who was killed by Elarique Swiftblade who in turn was killed by Ygethmor's men - and to close the Webway portal on the planet's surface, preventing easy access to the Craftworld of Alaitoc. The portal had been closed permanently after the last of the eldar on surface had retreated back into its serpentine corridors.

One ship, however, remained in the orbit. It was a Void Stalker named the _Sword of Vaul_. It was the last eldar ship to remain as the Warp storm drew closer.

* * *

Autarch Fetalque Swiftblade, brother of the deceased Autarch Elarique, stood atop the command dais of the _Sword of Vaul._

His eyes watched the ship's crew manning all the stations in the bridge from behind his helmet, but his mind was elsewhere. He could only think of his sister, lying dead in the ruins with her spirit stone unclaimed.

"Autarch, the ship is ready to enter the Webway."

Fetalque waved his hand dismissively at the crew member without even looking at him. He sat down on the throne next to him, resting his hands on its arm rests. Mentally, he called up the casualty report of the campaign to his visor display, observing the numbers with great sorrow.

Fetalque put aside the report and concentrated on the main viewscreen instead. It showed Van Grothe's Rapidity edging ever closer to Medusa V and the ship. It was a terrifying thing to behold, to watch as the Warp overlapped the realspace, trapping ships, fleets and even planets into the Warp.

"Prepare to enter the Webway," called Fetalque quietly, barely audible but still everyone heard it. "Get us away from the storm, lest we are trapped within it with the planet.

Many eldar began to issue commands to the ship when suddenly a deep _thump _was heard. Alarms started blaring across the ship, signaling they were under attack. Bright red light illuminated the bridge as more crew members manned their stations. The main viewscreen flickered to show a tyranid ship closing the distance between the two ships quickly.

It was a Dark Prowler. It was a manta-shaped creature with leathery thick wings attached to a central cavity. The ship's central cavity contained two powerful acid-firing chambers, and hullgrinders lined its wings. These kind of ships were deadly if they were allowed to get to close range where its bio-acid weaponry could cause severe damage.

Fetalque cursed under his breath. It was unexpected for a tyranid ship that had been seemingly abandoned by the Hive Mind to attack the _Sword of Vaul. _He had underestimated the tyranids for the second time. The first time had almost cost him his arm to the surprise attack of the creature the Imperium called the "Deathleaper".

"Open fire with pulsar lances! Blast that thing apart!" ordered Fetalque as he stood up from his throne. "Make sure it doesn't survive!"

* * *

Two incredibly powerful bolts of energy shot forth from the Void Stalker, hitting the Dark Prowler dead-on. The lance shots pierced the hive ships carapace, spitting out ichor and blood from the wounds, but it didn't stop the creature from closing in. But the lance hits had still slowed it down enough for the Void Stalker to fire again. This time the lance bolts crippled the tyranid organism, spewing blood, ichor and acid all around it.

The moment of triumph was short-lived, however. Two more Dark Stalkers began to approach the ship, slowly and carefully this time, as if calculating how big a threat it was to them.

They didn't have to wait for long before they had their answer: two more bolts struck one of them, crippling it in a single hit to the center. The second ship opened fire with its acid cannons and hit the hull just above the lower port sail, corroding a nasty looking hole into the outer hull.

In return laser beams and missiles rained death upon it, blowing deep holes into its carapace and causing internal hemorrhage. The _Sword of Vaul _floated past the wounded Dark Prowler, before unleashing a point-blank shot from its pulsar lances. The bolts cut right through the tyranid ship, its halves leaking all kinds of foul fluids.

Suddenly, as the _Sword of Vaul _was about to draw distance to the incoming Warp storm, a ball of bio-acid hit its hull off the starboard bow, right above the frontal weapon batteries. Luckily it didn't harm the weaponry, but the acid did burn a hole into the hull, although not all the way through.

It was yet another Dark Prowler!

This time the bio-ship was flying towards the _Sword of Vaul _as fast as it could, firing its bio-acid cannons furiously. Driven by instinct, this creature was trying to do one thing and one thing only: destroy the eldar ship. It swooped towards its target, cannons spitting acidic balls to weaken the hull of the ship.

Just as the weapon batteries of the _Sword of Vaul _began to fire laser, missiles and plasma at the incoming the bio-ship, something unexpected happened: a damaged and battered Imperial Avenger class grand cruiser drifted lifelessly between the two warring ships. Before anyone could react, shots impacted on the ships hull and blasted through the huge gaps in the hull, lighting fires inside the ship that spread all around its interior, including ammunition stores and the reactor. The Dark Prowler crashed into the ship, plunging acid into the already unstable ship.

The ships moved towards the eldar ship from the force of the impact, stopping a good dozen kilometers away, but it was too late; the pulsar lances, which had been charging up to blow the tyranid ship to smithereens, fired a dual bolt of energy at the grand cruiser before anyone could abort the attack.

The cruiser and the bio-ship were hit dead-on.

The following explosion of the cruiser's plasma reactors engulfed the entangled ships, destroying them both utterly. Then the explosion was followed by the implosion of the Warp drive, wiping out everything near the spot occupied by the wreck a mere nanosecond ago.

* * *

Fetalque watched in horror as the Imperial ship exploded in a bright ball of plasma and debris. He gasped loudly in shock as the Imperial vessel vanished in an implosion of its own Warp core, threatening to engulf them as well.

Luckily the unnatural vortex only raged for a moment before it vanished all together, leaving the _Sword of Vaul _unharmed. That was far too close for comfort.

"Autarch!" yelled one of the crew members from his station near the front of the bridge. "The Warp storm! We are too close to it!"

"What?!" shouted Fetalque in shock and turned his attention back to the viewscreen.

Indeed, on the main viewscreen Van Grothe's Rapidity was close enough for it fill the whole screen. The storm seemed to grow ever larger, even though it was only moving toward Medusa V. To his horror, Fetalque realised the storm appeared to draw the ship towards it.

"Autarch, the storm is drawing us into it!"

"I know!" Fetalque gritted his teeth in concentration. He could already see the storm's eye in the center of the whirlpool of raw power practically glaring at the ship, small tendrils of ghostly energy trying grab the ship. Something had to be done, lest they were trapped in the Warp. "Full reverse!"

Crew members began to issue commands and the ship seemed to stay still, not moving forward or backward. That was a small relief, until...

"Engine power is failing!" yelled another crew member from his seat five yards to the front-right of the commander's dais. "The tyranid acids have penetrated the engine room."

Fetalque lowered his head in defeat. "Is there anything we can do?" he asked quietly as the ship began to move towards the storm.

"No, the Warp storm is too strong, but we could try to retreat into the Webway."

Fetalque turned his head to look to his right. There stood a warlock, dressed in blue robes and a yellow helmet. He knew who it was, the voice and the bloody, scarred shoulder guard gave it away. "Klerian, are you _absolutely_ sure of this?"

"It is the only option left for us, Autarch," said Klerian as the ship shuddered violently.

Fetalque sighed in defeat and nodded. "Prepare to enter the Webway!"

His order was followed by a moment of silence and disbelieved stares, before it was carried out. A white swirl of energy appeared in front of the ship and formed a rift in the reality, but it didn't last long; the portal to the Webway closed almost immediately, leaving behind a faint outline of it as the _Sword of Vaul _plummeted through it, fading away just as the ship's bow touched the edge of the Warp storm.

Van Grothe's Rapidity continued onward to Medusa V without delay.

But somewhere else the _Sword of Vaul _emerged in a bright flash of light.

* * *

**Well, what do you think?**

**Is is better than the last one?**

**Next chapter will be released when I finish it so don't expect it for at least a month.**

**Till then!**


	2. Unknown Waters

**Hello, everybody!**

**_Trife_: What? How can you even consider that I killed off the farseer? She is an important character in the story, I can't just kill her off. Well, in this fic the eldar work more from the shadows and don't openly ally with anyone so easily. They are distrustful about the humans and will use their trickery to make them do their battles and work.**

**_Lunatic Pandora1_: Do you mean that the reason of rewriting was random or the story itself? I'm guessing the former. Thanks for the name advice. Looked up my author name to find this? Isn't that quite mandatory in case of a new story, unless you use Search or check the crossover section?**

**_Dusel_: Thanks for the compliment. Argh, another eldar hater! Damn, you guys are numerous these days. Well, that is understandable. I, too, was one once upon a time.**

**Okay those were my replies this time. I have decided to start this story from the Season 3 episode "Devil you know". I will ignore all the events of the following episodes like they didn't happen: Point of view, 1969 (no time travelling in this fic, too complicated and confusing as hell), Holiday, Past and present, fifth race, Out of mind, Into the fire, There but for the grace of god, Thor's chariot, Thor's hammer and the Nox. Done mostly for story purposes, especially the time travelling, Asgård and the Quantum Mirror.**

**Anyways, on to the story then!**

**P.S. Apologies to VexMaster for borrowing a jaffa name from your story. I really couldn't come up with a good name on my own.**

* * *

**Unknown Waters**

Autarch Fetalque Swiftblade raised himself to a sitting position from the floor of the bridge of his ship, the _Sword of Vaul_. Well, technically the ship wasn't his nor was he the real commander, but seeing that the commander was dead and the second-in-command, Elarique Swiftblade, was also dead that made him the commander of the ship until they could get back to the craftworld and a new commander could be chosen.

Fetalque scanned the dark room - the lights had gone out from whatever happened - with his eyes, his helmet's sensors picking up fallen crew members all around the floor. Some were unconscious, while some had been crushed by a falling piece of the ceiling, most notably the crewman who operated the sensors of the Void Stalker. There were people groaning and yelling for help on the lower level of the command bridge, which was a meter and half lower than the upper level, and five meters forward. Further still was third level which was another one and half meters lower than the second one.

"Autarch, are you alright?" asked Klerian from beside him.

"I'm fine, Klerian," replied Fetalque as he stood up slowly. "What happened to us? I remember only that the entry to the Webway failed and then we hit the Warp storm."

The lights turned on without a warning.

Klerian straightened up and looked at the main viewscreen which was offline at the moment. In reality, he was scanning the surrounding area with his mind. "Strange," he muttered as he turned his head back towards Fetalque. "It appears we are no longer near Medusa V or the Warp storm that consumed the planet."

"Then where might we be, Warlock?" asked a new voice from the doorway behind them.

"Farseer Aldreth," said Fetalque as he turned to face the newcomer. "Nice to see you alive."

Aldreth was wearing a blue, sleeveless robe with her rune armor worn over it and a tall, yellow helmet with a flat, wing-like thing spurting from the back of it and curving over the top like the tail of scorpion poised to kill its prey. A yellow cape hung from her back, its edges decorated with various runes. On her wrists were a pair of yellow wristbands, edged with the symbol of Alaitoc.

"Klerian, go help the wounded," said Fetalque as he stared at the Farseer. "They will need your assistance."

"Yes, Honored Autarch," said Klerian, bowing, and went to do as told. His telekinetic powers could prove useful in removing the fallen equipment and debris.

"What is it that you want, Farseer?"

"I may know what happened," said Aldreth quietly. "When the Webway portal failed and was about to disappear, the ship plunged through it and came in contact with the Warp storm. Somehow the combination of our failed entry attempt and the raging power of the Warp storm has transported us to this place. I am not sure if we are even in the same galaxy anymore, the Warp is known to have transported ships light-years off course."

Fetalque thought about her explanation. It was very much likely that the farseer was right, just like she always was. "Then where are we, if not in the same galaxy?" asked Fetalque with a hint of worry in his voice.

"I do not know, but if we can get the ship's systems back online, then we can try to determine our location."

Fetalque nodded and looked over his shoulder. He could see Klerian dragging wounded eldar from under the debris and tending to their immediate injuries. He turned back to the farseer, only find her long gone. "Should have known she would do that," he muttered bitterly.

Fetalque climbed up the stairs of the command dais and sat on the throne, deep in thought. _If we are not in our own galaxy, then where could we be? The Warp couldn't have just thrown us across the universe into some other galaxy, could it?_ he thought with worry and confusion.

He just hoped the ship could be repaired quickly.

* * *

Hidden in a nearby asteroid belt, a lone ship, consisting of a superstructure with a large, golden tetrahedron pyramid at the center, watched the strange, new ship with interest.

It had appeared half an hour ago in a bright flash of light and massive burst of energy that was powerful enough to cause almost every system in the Ha'tak to fail. It had prevented the ship from returning to its master on one of the planets of the solar system.

In the pel'tac of the Ha'tak, a lone man stood before the command console, observing the strange ship as it floated lifelessly in space a couple of thousand kilometers away. The ship was sleek, several kilometers long and had two wing-like sails going out diagonally from both sides. It was painted azure while the wings were yellow like a sun. It seemed to be damaged in several places and was undergoing repair, but that couldn't be confirmed from the distance without any kind information.

"Master Ro'nak," greeted a jaffa as he entered the room. "The Ha'tak should be able to move once more in a couple of minutes."

Ro'nak turned his head to look at the jaffa whose face was hidden behind a chainmail face mask. Many of the jaffa serving his god, Sokar, wore such masks to hide their faces and to appear more intimidating to their enemies. This gave them a certain advantage in the field of battle and made them excellent choices should a human world decide to rebel against their god.

"Thank you, jaffa," said Ro'nak. "You may go now."

The jaffa bowed. "Yes, my lord," he said and left the room.

Ro'nak turned his attention back to the mysterious ship. Whoever was in command of that ship was a possible threat to the Ha'tak and as such, a threat to the goa'uld themselves.

Such threats had to eliminated, but how? He knew nothing of the ship or its crew. If he could seize the moment, he could try to attack the mysterious vessel and hope that the Ha'tak's firepower was enough. If only he could send a message to Sokar's fleet about this ship.

Suddenly the control panel began to act weirdly: random crystals began to flicker and shake. This continued for a moment, despite Ro'nak's best efforts to stop it, then it stopped and more weird things happened: first the control panel disappeared and was replaced by the body of a man, then the room around began to lose focus and became nothing more than a black veil that surrounded him.

Ro'nak reached for the body, pulling the chainmail mask off its face slowly. Instantly he recoiled at the sight of the pale face of the body. It was him! He could easily recognize his face from a mass of dozens simply because he had an unmistakable scar that ran diagonally across his face, from the left side of his forehead and down to the right side of his chin.

The body's head began to slowly turn towards him, its eyes glowing yellow, mouth hanging open. "This is what you will become," it said in a hollow, ghostly voice. "You can still save yourself." A deathly pale hand grabbed Ro'nak's wrist. "You must find your destiny! Find your guiding beacon; find your destiny!"

Ro'nak screamed as the vision faded and colors returned to the surroundings. He panted and gasped for breath as he struggled to stand upright. He had always had the ability to somehow predict the future to some degree. He didn't know how or why, he just did. In his home village he had been branded a sorcerer and banished because the townsfolk thought he was a demon in disguise. When he was barely a teenager he was taken in by Sokar's jaffa and was taken into their ranks, even if he never had a goa'uld larva like everyone thought.

The visions themselves were ghostly and cryptic. Sometimes they showed him his own death, sometimes they showed wraiths and spirits that spoke in riddles, sometimes they showed a field of white flowers where a little girl in black clothes sat picking up flowers and smiling sadly, signifying that something tragic was going to happen. He had learned a long ago that those visions had to be heeded or they would come true in one way or another, even if he didn't understand what they meant most of the time.

"What did that mean," he whispered as he stared at the control panel. "Does it have something to do with the new ship?" He looked at the gigantic alien ship.

Ro'nak gasped when the sudden realization hit him. The vision was referring to the alien ship! It had to be.

"This ship... could it be my guiding beacon?" he asked, unsure of his own voice.

Then, in the distance the alien vessel began to move.

* * *

After an hour of repairing and calibrating, the _Sword of Vaul _began to move.

"I want a full powered scan of our surroundings at once," ordered Fetalque, sitting down on the commander's throne on the dais. He had waited patiently for this moment, thinking over various scenarios of what happened. He had come to the conclusion that the ship was nowhere near any distinguishable stars, systems or sectors, or any other thing that could be used to determine their location.

"Initiating the scan, Autarch," announced a crewman from his position from the side of the bridge.

A holographic map of the surrounding space around the Void Stalker appeared on the table that sat on the middle level of the command bridge and rose up while enlarging. It was now at the level of Fetalque's seat and at least three meters in height and width.

The _Sword of Vaul _sat in the center of the hologram, surrounded by a sphere of blue, yellow, red and white. Then the image began to clear up, forming a three dimensional map of the area. The map was quite blank, except for an asteroid belt in the eastern side and a small planet in the western side of the map. But something within the asteroid belt caught Fetalque's attention: it was a ship with a large, tetrahedron pyramid in the center of its superstructure. On the map it was colored red for a possible threat, and Fetalque didn't want to get the ship into a battle so early after the repairs were complete.

"Unknown ship is suffering from widespread system malfunctions," said Farseer Aldreth as she walked up the small climb of stairs of his command dais. "Our sudden appearance from the Warp must have caused it."

"That is quite unfortunate," said Fetalque. "I had hoped our presence would go noticed until we had determined our exact location."

"We could hail them and try to acquire information from them."

"I know, but if they are suffering from system malfunction, then their communication should be out as well." Fetalque sighed in annoyance; this was not going to end well if the unknown ship had allies. He turned his head to the farseer, who was still staring at the holomap. "Would it be possible to just leave the area and forget this encounter all together?"

"It is not my place to say, Autarch. You are the commander; it is your duty to make the decision." She jumped backwards down the stairs and left the bridge for her own chamber somewhere deep within the _Sword of Vaul._

"Autarch, what are your orders?" asked a crewman. "Should we open fire?"

"No, let's make our way to the inner solar system. I want to know where we are, and there may be a planet nearby with at least some kind of civilization, be it primitive or not." Fetalque rose from his throne as the holomap disappeared and the main viewscreen flickered to life, forming into the image of the space in front of the ship. "Make towards the first inhabited planet in the system at full speed! We cannot afford to waste time until we are sure of our location," he ordered and the crew began to issue commands without a word.

* * *

Ro'nak gasped in awe when the alien ship began to move, first slowly as if testing the waters, then it began to move even faster towards the inner system, reaching a speed Ro'nak hadn't thought possible for a starship.

"Impossible," said Voc'ron, a jaffa who had come to observe the strange ship with him. He was wearing the basic dark red jaffa armor and carried a staff weapon. His skin was quite pale and the right side of his jaw was covered in burns from an old accident. "No ship can possibly move that fast without usage of hyperspace or some kind of an external acceleration!"

"Yet this one has done so before our very eyes, Voc'ron," replied Ro'nak, his voice betraying his awe and amazement.

"Should we tell Sokar about this incident?"

"I do not know, old friend," said Voc'ron. "I saw a vision of my own dead corpse telling me to find my destiny and a guiding beacon, but I do not know where to look."

"You believe it has something to do with this new ship?" asked Voc'ron, worried. He was one of the few who knew of Ro'nak's powers of foresight and his lack of a goa'uld. He understood why Ro'nak had kept quiet about himself; a human who commanded a Ha'tak and had powers of precognition was a threat to a goa'uld's power should he gain enough popularity and fame among the jaffa and humans.

"Yes," answered Ro'nak blankly. "Maybe we have to follow it, to find where my destiny lies."

"The Ha'tak should be able to enter hyperspace by now. If the ship is heading towards Delmak, then we might be able to arrive there before it does."

"You are correct." Ro'nak turned to fully face his old friend. "Tell the crew to start the reactor and prepare for hyper launch."

"As you wish, my lord," said Voc'ron with a bow and left to inform the crew.

"I just hope the fleet on Delmak doesn't try to attack the ship," whispered Ro'nak, shivering at the thought of arriving right into a battlefield and then being blown to pieces himself. Of course, he hadn't seen the power of the strange vessel's weaponry, but he doubted he had ever seen something like them. He had seen a few weapon turrets from the distance and a pair of massive cannons on the ship's prow.

He wished he would never be the target of those cannons.

* * *

Teal'c, the ex-First Prime of goa'uld Apophis and a member of top secret military team SG-1, was trying steer his Tel'tak away from a pair Death Gliders that were after him.

He had come with his team - consisting of Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter, Doctor Daniel Jackson and himself - and a Tok'ra operative, Martouf, to save another Tok'ra operative, who was also Major Carter's father, from a goa'uld named Sokar. He had deployed the rescue force via deployment pods and stayed behind in the orbit in case they needed extraction. But an arriving Ha'tak had seen him after a massive energy wave swept over the whole solar system and disabled his ship's cloaking device, leaving him open for an attack from the Death Glider wings inside the goa'uld mothership.

Fortunately, the Death Gliders were also disabled by the energy wave; unfortunately, the Tel'tak was also disabled for a very long time. Now, he was being chased by the Gliders.

"Teal'c, can you hear me?" came the voice of Colonel O'Neill over the radio. "What the hell happened up there? We saw a huge light some time ago, and the radio fell dead after that!"

"I do not know what it was, but whatever it was it disabled my Tel'tak and the Goa'uld mothership that arrived from hyperspace a moment before it," explained Teal'c calmly. He steered to the left to avoid staff blasts from his pursuers. "Now, I am being pursued by a pair of Death Gliders."

"Great, more problems! Just great! First Apophis is alive and well, trying to dig into our heads with some kind of a hallucination liquid and now this!"

"Has Apophis acquired any information yet?"

"No, I don't think so; none of us cracked. How come he is alive, anyway?"

"Sokar must have used a sarcophagus to revive the dying symbiote." Teal'c steered downward to avoid more shots. "Apophis must have fooled us into thinking he was dead so we would send the body back to Sokar. When Sokar revived him, he transferred him to another body so he could have tortured him further."

The ship shook as a pair of staff blasts hit the Tel'tak's side.

"Somehow Apophis was able to convince Sokar to make him the guardian of the Keeper of Ne'tu, Bynarr, whom he killed to take over the moon. He will possibly try to kill Sokar when he is about to make him the next Keeper of Ne'tu."

"And you know all this, how?" asked O'Neill after a moment.

"That is a simple plan that has been utilized in many forms by many goa'uld in the past, and Apophis is no exception."

Suddenly another staff blast rocked the ship, this time more violently.

"Teal'c? You OK?" asked O'Neill worriedly, hearing the explosions and the screeching metal. "Don't tell me those snake bastards are still trying to blow you up..."

"I'm alright, but not for long," said Teal'c, this time louder and less calmly than before. "I can see more Gliders coming to finish the job."

Indeed, in the distance he saw a dozen more Death Gliders flying towards him. They were followed by an Al'kesh, its round shape easily recognizable against the flock of curve shaped Gliders. He wouldn't last even a minute against that kind of armada.

Then he saw something that struck fear and hope into his heart: an absolutely massive azure colored ship sailed gracefully past the oncoming fighter armada at speeds no ship should have been able to reach, its numerous gun turrets and cannons aiming at the goa'uld fighters. Four great wing-like sails, two on each side, passed by the Death Gliders, making them look like flies next to the ship's sheer size.

Teal'c grabbed his radio quickly, he had to report this to O'Neill; this ship was definitely not of goa'uld design. "O'Neill, we have a new contact," he said, eyes glued to the newcomer.

"Friendly or hostile?" came the reply.

"Not sure, but it is truly a sight to..." he stopped when he heard Jack yelp in surprise and listened closely.

From the other end of the line, Teal'c heard sounds of struggle, cursing, threats and an all too familiar sound of a goa'uld. He heard Apophis order his troops to bring the SG-1 and Martouf to his chamber for an audience with Sokar. Teal'c's eyes widened when he heard the next word uttered by Apophis: "Make sure the Tau'ri are ready to die after I kill Sokar."

Teal'c felt new determination wash over him, let go of the radio and grabbed the steering wheel firmly, turning the Tel'tak around quickly. He hurried towards Ne'tu and Delmak, not worrying about the pursuers who were too mesmerized by the new alien ship, which had come to a halt a few kilometers away from the Tel'tak, to actually notice his escape.

He stole one last glance at the colossal vessel, feeling a shiver go down his spine as if something in the ship was watching him, before he diverted his gaze back to his destination: the fortress world of Delmak, the lair of the devil.

* * *

**And that's a wrap!**

**I know, I know. I said I wouldn't update in a month but a little change in the schedule came up. I wrote this as fast as I could so the ending may seem a bit rushed.**

**So how do you like the psychic human-pretending-to-be-jaffa idea? I came up with the vision idea when I played Batman: Arkham Asylum. It's from the first Scarecrow hallucination.**

**Do eldar have bionics or such things to replace lost limbs or even an eye? Just asking! I'm not going to make someone have such a thing, I just want to know just in case.**

**How do you like this version of the story? Is it better? It better be.**

**Well in the next chapter we'll have the first encounter between the goa'uld and the eldar, and it won't be a pretty sight. Then we have a fight between Apophis and Jack O'Neill. A jaffa rebellion led by Ro'nak and Voc'ron. Fighting on Delmak's surface. And we will meet terrible experiments of Sokar and of course Sokar himself...**

**See ya!**


	3. Devil's Fall

**Hello and welcome back.**

**_Anon_: Good to know you like this.**

**_Lunatic Pandora1_: Oh, you of little faith. Like I told Trife before, I can't just kill off the farseer; she's too important to the eldar and the story, although she isn't the main eldar character anymore. Why don't you do like I do every day: go to crossover games} warhammer} show all warhammer crossovers. I'll still have the Asgård, but their role will be a smaller one. Hmm, I'll have to think about that wraithbone idea. And no, I won't make Jack a psyker or any of his teammates this time. I do have something planned out for them, though.**

**_Trife_: Thank you again! Ro'nak will definitely rise to power after Sokar is dealt with in this chapter. Yes, this story is of better quality since I've improved my writing.**

**_Dusel_: Thank you. Yes, eldar arrogance is almost legendary, but they have their reasons. Mon-keigh means inferior race actually, usually used to refer to us humans, but can also mean anyone else deemed inferior.**

**There will be two cameos from different games in this chapter. You don't have bother your heads figuring them out; I'll just tell them in the end notes. If you do figure them out then good for you. The first is easy, but the second one will be difficult. I really didn't know how to describe it.**

**Anyways, here's chapter number three! Enjoy.**

* * *

**Devil's Fall**

Autarch Fetalque Swiftblade watched the alien fighters and ships surround the _Sword of Vaul_.

He wasn't worried at all about the great pyramid shaped ships launched dozens of fighters that vaguely resembled the necron Shroud class ships or about the round bombers swarmed around his ship, but a small ship sailing towards the nearby planet had caught his eye. It was small, maybe a dozen meters in length, and didn't seem to be a fighter at all. It didn't seem to belong to the surrounding flotilla, either.

"We are picking up communication between the fighters and the pyramid ships, Honored Autarch," said the crewman who operated sensory arrays. "I do not understand their language, but it seems they are trying to gather information about us."

Fetalque frowned; he had expected as much. "Is there any way to communicate with them?" he asked calmly, staring at the viewscreen. "Any way to try to ask for our current location?"

"I doubt it, Autarch."

"We might as well give up trying to ask them anything."

Fetalque turned to look over his shoulder and saw the newcomer who had spoken. It was a warlock with torn robes and scorched armor. Fetalque recognized the warlock; after all they had both been a part of a raid on an ork outpost near Hive Eyryales on Medusa V. The warlock had been caught in an explosion of an ork flamer's promethium tank, and Fetalque had lost sight of him. Such a good thing for him to be alive.

"Elurian," said Fetalque, "I had thought you dead."

Elurian nodded. "So did I, Autarch Fetalque, but we have more concerning things to bother ourselves with." He pointed at the small fleeing ship on Fetalque's personal small screen on his right. "That ship doesn't seem to belong to these aliens that surround us. It was trying to get away from the fighters before we arrived and diverted the flotilla's attention to us instead."

"We gave it a chance to do whatever it intended to," mused Fetalque, turning back to the main viewscreen. "Do we know anything about our opposition?"

"Their fighters won't be a problem, and the ships themselves seem to be lightly constructed. No match for our weaponry. They also seem to have shields..."

Fetalque nodded in agreement; he had come to the same conclusion himself. He hoped to solve this conflict without fighting, but if these aliens forced his hand then he would have no choice but to fight back. He doubted the starships' shielding could withstand a shot from a pulsar lance even at fifty percent power.

"Fighters moving in to engage, Autarch!" announced a crewman suddenly, observing a screen in front of him. "Weapons primed and closing in. Contact in three... two... one..."

Fetalque watched as at least a dozen of those curve shaped enemy fighters swooped past the viewscreen, their wing-mounted weapons spitting fire at the damaged Void Stalker's hull, doing no damage at all. More and more fighters began to bombard the ship with cannons and bombs, trying - and failing - to destroy it. Even the big ships joined the assault, firing their cannons and various turrets.

This continued for a moment before a lucky shot from a starship hit the damaged part of the hull in the stern, causing a small explosion dangerously close the reactor that was already working overtime.

"I think we've let them play around long enough. Activate the holofields and fire a pulsar lance at the nearest ship! Full power!" ordered Fetalque, his voice raised so it could be heard over the sound of hull breach alarm. "I want them to know we do not take kindly to their attack!"

"It'll be quite a show, Autarch," said Elurian with a hint of amusement.

"Indeed it will, Warlock."

The mon-keigh would pay for ever challenging the _Sword of Vaul_.

* * *

Ro'nak's Ha'tak emerged from hyperspace a few thousand kilometers away from the battle. The goa'uld vessels were surrounding the strange ship, bombarding it with all they got. The ship seemed to hold under the firepower that could pulverize a Ha'tak in seconds.

"We are too late," said Voc'ron sadly, his head hung down in shame. "If we had only left a moment earlier we might have prevented this."

"We cannot be sure of that, Voc'ron," assured Ro'nak, staring at the ongoing battle. "This was to be expected from Sokar's forces; they have never tolerated intruders in the solar system."

An explosion on the alien vessel's rear side caught the pair's attention. It happened right on the rupture in the ship's hull in the stern, but it appeared to have done no damage at all.

Then something truly strange happened: all Ha'taks and Death Gliders stopped firing and the lock-on on the ship failed, reverting the viewscreen back to a normal window. All attempts to lock back on the ship failed, no matter how hard Ro'nak pressed the command crystals on the command panel.

Voc'ron gasped. "Ro'nak, look!" He pointed at the stalled battle in the distance.

There, something that would haunt Ro'nak for the rest of his life occurred: one of the massive cannons on the prow of the mysterious starship began charge up, its mighty barrel giving an eerie white-blue glow. A moment later a great bolt of energy shot forth from the cannon towards the nearest Ha'tak, destroying Gliders and Al'kesh in its wake. The bolt struck the Ha'tak's shields and, to the pair's absolute horror, it blasted right through them like a hot knife through butter, and into the pyramid structure in the center, blasting the ship apart.

"Unbelievable!" Ro'nak shouted in disbelief, watching the other cannon begin to glow. He watched in mute horror as yet another bolt speared through a Ha'tak and a squadron of Death Gliders like they were nothing but air, if even that. He saw numerous broadside weapon batteries light up, spitting all kinds of projectiles and energy at the surrounding goa'uld blockade. Ro'nak couldn't watch anymore as more and more of Death Gliders and Ha'taks were blown apart under the onslaught of power. He had to do something.

"Open connection to the lead Ha'tak!" he hastily commanded Voc'ron who complied quickly despite his shock. The screen flickered and formed the image of the lead Ha'tak's pel'tak. On the screen was a young jaffa with the symbol of Sokar on his forehead, just like Ro'nak and Voc'ron themselves had.

The jaffa bowed. "My lord, what do I own this honor for?"

"Retreat to my position immediately! I do not want to be held responsible for the destruction of the entire fleet!" shouted Ro'nak, masking his growing anxiety well from the youth. "Half of the active fleet is already gone!"

"I will relay your orders immediately!" The jaffa began to issue commands to the console in a hurry, seeming rather relieved. "All ships withdraw, now!" he bellowed, relaying his words to the other ships as the image began to shimmer and return to normal.

Ro'nak watched with relief as the Ha'taks broke formation and hastily retreated away from the alien ship. The ship had also stopped firing its weapon, leaving destroyed Ha'taks, Al'kesh and Death Gliders behind, smoking pieces of debris betraying their former locations. The alien ship was a truly formidable opponent to face if it could face and defeat a whole flotilla of goa'uld ships - even if it had only seven motherships, three of which were now nothing more than smoldering wrecks of twisted metal.

"Something is happening again," whispered Voc'ron with worry and fear in his voice.

On the screen the mysterious vessel began to move, this time towards Delmak. It moved faster and faster at every passing moment, ignoring the dumbfounded looks the jaffa aboard the goa'uld ships gave it.

Whatever the ship and its crew wanted, it was something Ro'nak wanted to find out; if the ship came all the way here, it had to be for a reason, unless the ship was lost. But that wouldn't make sense, would it?

The ship couldn't have just popped out of nowhere and not know where it was, right?

* * *

Teal'c swore silently as a matter stream beamed from Ne'tu to the surface of Delmak. He was too late to stop it from happening.

No matter how hard he had tried, he had still failed to save his friends. Now, Apophis had a chance to not only kill the rest of SG-1, Martouf and Jacob Carter, but Sokar as well and then he would take over the fleet and army. That could tip the power scale between the goa'uld System Lords to Apophis' favor. With the mighty fleet of Ha'taks he could easily attack Earth again and destroy it.

The mission was over - he had failed.

His internal mourning was interrupted when a massive shape sailed past his ship's front window. It was larger than any ship had ever seen before, even larger than a Ha'tak. It had four massive, wing-like, yellow sails mounted on its stern, going diagonally up and down with two on each side. Its azure colored hull was filled with black markings that Teal'c recognized as staff cannon hits. There were also older, deeper scars on the hull, origin of which he couldn't even begin to speculate on.

This was the ship he had seen a mere a moment ago stopping the goa'uld armada with its appearance. And it was moving towards Delmak, slowly but surely.

Suddenly the communication channel crackled to life and was filled with static. Then a voice was heard. It was young and battle hardened, most likely a jaffa. "Attention Tok'ra Tel'tak, we mean you no harm. Is there a man called Teal'c in there?"

"I am Teal'c, why do you ask? Who are you?" Teal'c didn't know how they knew him or why they asked, but he was sure he would find out in a moment.

"My name is Ro'nak, and we must discuss about a way to save your friends from Apophis. If you could come to my ship, we could try to figure out a way to invade Delmak and possibly eliminate two System Lords at once," suggested Ro'nak honestly.

"How do I know I can trust you?" asked Teal'c, thinking of this as trick to capture him.

"You have no choice, Teal'c. I implore you, please, come to my ship; it is the only way to free your friends." Ro'nak cut the transmission before Teal'c could reply.

Teal'c diverted his attention to the massive ship as it sailed past Ne'tu and disappeared behind it. If only it could help him against Sokar's fleet and defenses.

He shook those thoughts out of his head. He turned to look to his right where Delmak was located, orbited by a fleet of recently activated goa'uld motherships. If this Ro'nak could help him, then he had to seize the opportunity and accept his help in this matter. Alone he would have no chance to even get to the orbit of the planet before being blasted apart, while together with Ro'nak he would at least have some chance to succeed.

Teal'c steered his Tel'tak around and sped off towards the mothership the transmission originated from.

* * *

Autarch Fetalque watched with curiosity as the small ship that had fled from the fighter flotilla flew right into the hangar bay of a ship that had appeared during the battle and had commanded others to withdraw.

What had caused the ship to go to the big one's hangar if they were supposed to be in different sides? What was spoken about during the brief communication between those ships? What could be so important that one would go to an enemy ship? What were they going to talk about inside that pyramid ship?

Alliance, probably.

An alliance against who or what?

Maybe the planet the moon that hid the _Sword of Vaul _from the alien fleet's view orbited.

But why? Wasn't the pyramid ship part of the planet's defense fleet? Were they traitors or rebels? Was there something on the planet that was so important and valuable that it made two opposing forces cooperate?

Most likely.

What could it be? A mineral? A person? Technology?

That remained to be seen.

Fetalque didn't like the possibility of unknown. Unknown was always just what it was - unknown. This whole new civilization was an unknown factor; their weaponry and ships may have been weak compared to the Void Stalker, but they were also something he had never seen before. He had to find out more about this new species and their technology, more of their culture and history.

Fetalque was always the curious and diplomatic one of the siblings, while Elarique was the straight-forward and hit-first-ask-later type. Her stubbornness and determination had always won her battles. He had always been proud of her and her achievements. It was sad that she had sacrificed herself to stop the vile Chaos lord, Ygethmor, but if not for that noble act of selflessness, Ygethmor would have continued to wreak havoc in the galaxy.

His internal musings were interrupted by the blinking of his helmet visor's vox rune. Someone wanted to talk to him, it seemed. He blink-clicked it and said, "Go ahead."

"Fetalque, I've sensed something in the near-future," Aldreth's voice told him. "I wish to discuss it with you in person. It is urgent."

"Understood. I'm on my way."

"I will you meet you halfway."

Aldreth cut the connection, and Fetalque stood up from his throne and jumped down the stairs.

Whatever she wanted to tell, it wouldn't be pleasant.

It never was.

* * *

Ro'nak stood in the command deck of his Ha'tak, next to a table with a map of Delmak draped over it. To his right stood Voc'ron, staring at the map like a statue. On the opposite side of the table stood Teal'c, the famed ex-First Prime of Apophis who turned against his own god for the sake of his people.

Teal'c was a man Ro'nak had always admired, and to hear from a commander of another Ha'tak that his team was captured by Apophis and sent to Sokar with Teal'c himself somewhere nearby had made Ro'nak's heart skip a beat. Now, he had a chance to fulfill his dream to defeat Sokar and free the planet's people from enslavement just like Teal'c wanted to free his.

He was glad Teal'c had chosen to trust him and come aboard the ship to plan the attack.

"If we are going to attack Sokar's fortress, we need a plan," said Teal'c. "How are we going break into the fortress?"

"We will send a squadron of Death Gliders to cause chaos on the far side of the planet. They should last long enough for us to use a ring transport to take a strike force into the fortress," explained Voc'ron, pointing at the side of the map farthest away from the fortress's location on the map's right side, near the center. "Then we storm the place. Half of our number should create a distraction near the main gate, while others go to the prison cell and search for the SG-1 and the Tok'ra."

"Do you have a map of the fortress?" asked Teal'c.

Ro'nak nodded and picked up a large scroll from under the table. He unwrapped it and spread it on the table over the previous map. It was a perfect layout of Sokar's fortress. The fortress was built by an ancient civilization ages ago, before Sokar had come and conquered the planet. The civilization was exterminated after they rebelled against Sokar's rule. This map was one of the most valuable items that remained from those days.

"The rings should take us here." He pointed at a small, square room near the center of the massive building. "Then we should move down this corridor and go down these stairs," explained Ro'nak, moving his finger over a hallway above the room and then down a small set of horizontal lines. "We should be able to find the holding cells there, but we must hurry; Sokar is not stupid. The moment the rings take us into the fortress and we split up, he will know of our intentions and will send his bodyguards to kill us."

"How long do we have before we depart?"

"As soon as our forces are ready..." Ro'nak trailed off as a faint beeping sound reached his ears. He nodded toward Voc'ron who went to check the command panel. "It seems the time is now, Master Teal'c. I wish you luck."

"As do I to you, Ro'nak," replied Teal'c as he exited the room to get ready for battle.

When the door closed behind Teal'c, Ro'nak turned his head to look at Voc'ron. "How many jaffa have turned to our cause?" he asked. The attack was doomed if the attacking force was too small.

"The whole active part of the fleet," answered Voc'ron, keeping his eyes glued to the controls. "They, too, share our view and dream. To them, Sokar is a sadistic dictator that wants nothing more than destruction. Some have also said they fear Sokar's rumored experiments..."

Ro'nak, too, had heard the rumors. Rumors about bloodcurdling screams in the dead of night, echoing from the fortress. Rumors about terrifying creatures, walking monstrosities of metal and flesh, stalking the empty hallways of the fortress, eating alive those caught in their way. Of course, those were just rumors and no one could verify them, but Ro'nak knew there was something evil inside the walls of the citadel.

"What about the mysterious ship?" asked Ro'nak, deeply concerned about the alien ship that had blown up half of the fleet and then disappeared while Ro'nak had talked with the commanders of the fleet. "What is its current location?"

"It seems they were behind the moon a moment ago, but our sensors cannot lock-on to them anymore, and it is likely to have already left the system, considering the speed with which we saw it move."

"It is always a possibility, Voc'ron. I had hoped it could help us against Sokar and his defenses."

"As did I, Ro'nak."

Ro'nak sighed sadly. He had hoped to contact the ship and ask them for help, but now that it was nowhere to be found, no help could be asked for. This attack had to be done with only his jaffa and Teal'c helping him inside the fortress.

Time for attack was only a moment away now.

* * *

The metal door of the cell creaked open with a long sound of unoiled hinges.

"See, I told you I could do it," said Colonel Jack O'Neill as he stepped out of the primitive stone cell. "And you doubted my skills in lock picking."

"I didn't think you were serious when you said you could get us out of here," said Doctor Daniel Jackson as he stumbled outside the cell, followed by Captain Samantha Carter, her father, Jacob, and Martouf.

Jack smiled proudly as he took a look at the room outside the cell. It was a dimly lit room with torches hanging from the walls and ceiling. Its floor was made from stone and there was no furniture, only the cell, the torches and the heavy, steel exit door.

"Where are the guards?" asked Jacob, checking their surroundings. "Why would anyone leave a prison cell unguarded?"

"Well, while I was picking the lock, I heard guards talking about an attack on the other side of the planet and that they were going to be deployed there," explained Jack as he strode towards the exit door. He pulled the handle and then pushed, but the door wouldn't budge. "Dammit, locked. I guess they weren't as careless as I hoped."

"Can't you just pick the lock again?" asked Daniel, gesturing towards the open cell door.

"Well, I would if not for the fact that the metal spike I used to get us out of the cell broke in half," said Jack dryly, holding out the two halves of the spike. "Unless you have another one, then we ain't going anywhere."

"What about Teal'c? Could you contact him with your radio and see if he can find a way to help us?" asked Martouf, standing next to Carter to steady Jacob whose legs were still pretty weak after all those days he had spent on Ne'tu.

Jack searched his belt for the radio but didn't find it. "Um, no, its gone," he replied. Apophis had to have taken it when he ordered his men to take SG-1 and the Tok'ra away from Ne'tu.

"Colonel O'Neill, can you hear me?"

Jack jumped back in surprise as did everyone else. That voice sounded like Teal'c, but that couldn't be possible; he was supposed to aboard the Tel'tak in orbit. Judging by the reactions of the others, they had heard it, too.

"Teal'c, is that you?" asked Jack.

"O'Neill!" exclaimed Teal'c, no doubt about his identity anymore. "Are the others with you?"

"We're okay, Teal'c!" shouted Sam.

"Step away from the door; we are coming in!"

Everyone took distance to the door immediately, making sure to stand at least five meters away from it. Sam and Martouf let Jacob stand by himself, trusting that his legs would hold him upright for now. Jack and Daniel stood by the cell door which was continuously creaking back and forth, until Jack slammed it shut, annoyed.

It was then he registered the most important word Teal'c had used. "Did he say 'we'?"

Daniel blinked a couple of times. "I think he did," he said, turning to Jack. "'We' who?"

Sounds of movement and something heavy being dragged on the stone floor was heard from the other side, followed by muffled talking and banging. There were clearly more people than one, just like Jack thought. Something heavy was laid down in front of the door, banging against the door and scraping the stone floor. Sounds of footfalls faded away.

The door exploded open with a loud boom.

Everyone looked stunned as they dodged small, flying pieces of steel.

Teal'c emerged from the smoking doorway, carrying a staff weapon in his hands. "O'Neill! So good to see you alive."

"I could say the same of you, Teal'c!" Jack patted Teal'c's shoulder with a smile on his face. "Say, how the hell did you get in here?"

Everyone gathered next to Jack, curious expressions on their faces. They were probably thinking the same question in their heads.

"Master Teal'c, are they alright?" asked an unknown voice from the corridor beyond.

Everyone tensed as a jaffa in dark red armor stepped into the room with a staff weapon in his hands. His face was hidden by a chainmail mask, but somehow deep within Jack felt that he wasn't a threat.

"They are, Ro'nak," said Teal'c, turning to the newcomer.

"Good. The rest of our forces should be securing the gates by now. We should move quickly if we are to confront Sokar and Apophis." Ro'nak gave them a curt nod and walked back outside.

"Who was that?" asked Sam, curious.

"Ro'nak," replied Teal'c simply. "He is a jaffa who opposes Sokar and helped me get to the planet to save you. He has half a fleet on his side." A small smile crept to Teal'c's lips.

"We'd better go before we are left behind," said Jacob.

"Indeed."

Everybody walked out of the room swiftly. Beyond the doorway was a dull stone corridor with no decoration save for a few torches here and there. They walked down the corridor, meeting up with a few dozen jaffa in the end of it. The jaffa all greeted them and told them to stay close by in case Sokar sent troops to dispose of them.

Jack wondered how Teal'c had found this Ro'nak and his forces. It wasn't really common for a jaffa to betray his so called god. Maybe Ro'nak was only tricking Teal'c, but Teal'c seemed to trust him fully and he didn't do so unless he had believed him completely.

The fortress gave him the creeps.

There were sounds of dripping water and faint footsteps everywhere, as if something bad was waiting for them.

* * *

From a small alcove, Merenech observed the humans as marched down the fortress' corridors after freeing a group of prisoners from a cell.

He had followed these humans ever since he first saw them when he and his ranger squad had dropped from a Wave Serpent to the fortress' roof under the cover of the light beam that shot from a space ship to the planet. It was easy to launch a transport from the _Sword of Vaul _and go undetected by the strange pyramid ships when they had their guard down.

His squad had separated to cover more ground. He himself had followed the human forces while the others had gone elsewhere.

These humans seemed to utilize a strange method of teleportation; the beam of light seemed to lead to a small square room in the middle of the top floor of the fortress where a set of rings sprung from the floor and a group materialized in the middle of them. How intriguing.

He listened as the humans spoke. Their language was beyond his understanding, because it didn't resemble any he had ever heard before, not the Gothic spoken by the Imperium, not the broken speech of the orks nor the language of the eldar themselves. He tried to mimic the words in his head for later usage and reference.

"These human are truly strange," he whispered to no one in particular before jumping from the shadows and blending into the shadows on the other side of the corridor. His movement was timed with their talking to minimize the chance of being heard. "I wonder why we have never met them before now. They don't seem to be aligned with the _Imperium_." He spat the last word out like a bitter poison.

Merenech watched the humans as they climbed up a set of stone stairs, keeping their strange staff-shaped weapons ready. They were obviously frightened and nervous about something, but what? Was it this fortress that made them feel uneasy, or was it something else? Merenech didn't know, but if there was something that was a potential threat to him, his squad or these humans then it was best that he stayed close and observed them.

He slowly walked after them, making sure to keep the noise from his footsteps to minimum. His ears could pick up faint bloodcurdling screams of pain in the distance. They had to have heard them, too. No wonder if they did; the corridors were made from stone and they echoed badly.

Merenech rounded the corner at the top of the stairs quietly. The dull stony architecture of the fortress made it easy for him to blend into the shadows cast by the walls and alcoves. He crept along the wall towards the humans who were making hasty advance towards the opposite direction from the room they had teleported into. They were moving towards the front gates.

He heard them discuss something between themselves in their strange language as they moved. From their frightened tones, Merenech surmised it was about the screams they all had heard. Their speed at the moment was nothing Merenech couldn't match, but he still kept his distance in case they somehow saw or heard him.

"Merenech, we are near the front gates," came the voice of his teammate, Nalereth, over the vox. "I trust you heard the screams as well."

"I did, Nalereth," replied Merenech. "I am closing in on your position. We will meet up somewhere and regroup. We had better not move alone if there is something that is a potential threat."

"Understood, Merenech," replied Nareleth and cut the connection. Nareleth was always one of the quieter ones in the ranger squads aboard the _Sword of Vaul_.

Merenech turned his fast walking pace into a light jog, making sure to keep his footfalls as silent as possible and to keep his distance from the group he was following.

He stopped at a corner and peeked around it. He saw the group was still moving at the medium pace with which they had moved after the screams. At this rate it would take a few moments to get to the courtyard and to the front gates. Damn these humans and their slowness! If this continued it would be too late to catch whatever had cause those screams.

Merenech spotted a climb of stairs on his left, in an alcove the group had just passed. He rushed forward, stopped to glance at the humans as they advanced down the corridor and ran up the stairs. He turned right and spotted a door not too far away.

As he made his way towards it, Merenech couldn't shake the feeling something bad was about to happen.

* * *

Ro'nak slowly opened the doors to the courtyard for his forces, staff weapon ready for the enemy. It had taken a couple of minutes to arrive to the courtyard, where the bloodcurdling screams had originated from. He was a bit hesitant in opening the doors, but he was a leader and he couldn't show fear when his troops looked up to him for courage.

The doors slowly creaked open and the group rushed through, staff weapons primed and held at the ready.

What they saw was something straight from their worst nightmares.

The ground was littered with bloody, torn corpses and discarded weaponry. Some bodies were torn in half, some were mangled beyond recognition, some were crushed by a great force. There was blood, body parts, internal organs and ragged pieces of armors lying all over the place. The ground was filled with large, shallow pits like something large had stomped through the courtyard, slaughtering the jaffa like they were nothing.

"My men," whispered Ro'nak in horror. "What could have done this?" All around him his jaffa began searching the bodies for any clues about their attackers. "It's like wild animals have attacked them, but... there are no wild animals on Delmak, and these wounds are too horrible to be the work of wild animals."

This was terrible! Half of his strike force now laid dead before his eyes, and without that half the final assault against Sokar and Apophis would be suicide. He needed to call for reinforcements, but now that Sokar knew his fortress was under attack from the inside, they would never survive long enough for them to reach the main strike force.

"Master Ro'nak, there is someone still alive over here!" shouted a grizzled jaffa from the other side of the courtyard, near the massive front gates.

Everybody rushed to the site as fast as they could, forming a crowd around the barely breathing jaffa. Ro'nak pushed past a few jaffa on his way as he moved to the wounded jaffa's side.

The jaffa's right leg was a bloody stump, his arms were broken in numerous places and his armor looked like it had been crushed under a great pressure. Blood was dripping from the side of his mouth and flowing down from a small cut on his horror stricken face.

"What happened here? Who did this?" Ro'nak asked.

"A monster..." the jaffa managed before coughing up blood. "It came out of nowhere..."

"What?"

"We were no match for it. Master Ro'nak, the rumors must have been true..." The jaffa took one last breath before slumping down, dead.

There were gasps in the crowd of jaffa around him as the last the last sentence left the jaffa's mouth. If the rumors were true, and the monster that attacked was the result of Sokar's twisted experiments, then the attack was doomed to fail even further.

"Um, hope you don't mind me asking, but what did he mean by that?" asked one of the members of the infamous SG-1.

Jaffa turned to look at the man with fearful expressions on their faces. No one answered him, afraid that by doing so they would attract the beasts back to them. Ro'nak stared at the man for a moment before he rose to his feet again. "The rumored experiments are true."

A jaffa stepped forth from the crowd, his young face alight with determination. "There are rumors of terrible experiments conducted by Sokar in his madness. He wants an unstoppable army of monsters capable of ripping his enemies' armies to shreds. The monster that attacked and killed these jaffa was the result of those experiments. Sokar has done what the goa'uld System Lords have feared for ages; he has succeeded in his efforts."

Laughter filled the air.

It was malicious and loud, and echoed around the body stricken courtyard as if coming from every direction at once.

Ro'nak turned his head upwards, to look at a balcony that overlooked the mighty front gates, forged by the ancient civilization centuries ago. There stood a man in dark red jaffa armor, a sword in his left hand, a pale and bloody head in his right. It was Apophis, with the severed head of Sokar.

"I thank you for that information, jaffa," said Apophis arrogantly, attracting the gazes of the others around Ro'nak. "Now, I have more than Sokar's army and fleet on my command."

"What makes you think so?" asked a jaffa behind Ro'nak.

Apophis said nothing. He threw the head down to the courtyard, smiling darkly as he did. The head dropped to the ground a few feet away from Teal'c.

Now it was the jaffa who laughed.

Ro'nak turned to face him in shock, not expecting someone to laugh now that Sokar was dead and Apophis would gain control over his forces. His eyes widened behind the chainmail mask of his as he came face-to-face with the speaker. The jaffa was wearing similar gear as Ro'nak - chainmail mask, jaffa armor and a staff weapon - but his eyes showed amusement. Those same eyes were dark green, just like Ro'nak's own.

"Do you think that killing the First Prime would let you take over Sokar's throne?"

Now everyone was confused, even Apophis.

Ro'nak observed the jaffa before him and noticed something really weird about him: the jaffa was his exact duplicate, like a clone. What was this man?

The doppelgänger exploded into an uncontrollable laughter. "And you never asked how I know of the experiments... It is because I am one of them!" The jaffa began to shake, growing in size while the sounds of his popping bones replaced the eerie silence that had fallen after his last words.

His armor tore apart as flesh seemingly erupted from his thin body; his skin turned sickly green and looked like it was ravaged by a plague; his arms turned into great, fleshy lumps of rotten meat with razor sharp blades as fingers; a large gaping maw replaced his mouth, grinning widely at the horrified jaffa and humans; his eyes turned into black orbs of evil; a large hole opened on its stomach, leaving entrails hanging loosely from it and blood dripping to the the ground; two deer-like horns burst from the side of his head.

The monster stood ten meters tall, and it didn't look like it had ever been a man. Its body was swollen like an air balloon, and its legs were fat and short, seemingly unable to bear the monster's weight at all.

It laughed darkly, satisfied by the fear stricken face of those around it.

Everybody rushed away from the monster, making sure to stay at least ten meters away. Apophis had disappeared from the balcony. The monster grinned even wider, reveling in the feeling of power.

Five beams of light shot out from different directions around the courtyard, blasting right into the monster's thick hide. Foul, crimson liquid flowed from the wounds, earning a cry of pain from the monster as it trashed around, searching for its attacker. It grabbed a horrified jaffa who was too afraid to even try to run, lifting him up to the air with breathless ease.

The monster dropped the screaming jaffa into its gaping mouth and closed its maw, devouring the jaffa's upper body, leaving his feet to drop to the ground. The monster's wounds began to close as the last bits of the jaffa disappeared down its throat.

"Delicious. Your flesh shall feed my powers! Now, where is the one who wounded me!" The monster turned to stare heatedly at Ro'nak. It took a step forward, crushing a body under its leg. "You are the leader of this renegade group? Then allow me to introduce myself before I kill you and present your body to my god. I am Ulkair!"

Ro'nak finally got the control of his legs back and turned to run away, shouting for the others to do the same. He could hear the laughter of Ulkair as it strode forward, cleaving a pair of jaffa in two with its claws and stepping on another jaffa. He could hear desperate staff blasts from various jaffa as they retreated with him.

Ro'nak reached the door after what felt like an eternity. It was the same double door he and his forces entered the courtyard, its brown wood unmistakable. He swung it open, letting a couple of his warriors in, along with the SG-1 who had luckily stayed away from the creature that now ravaged his forces.

"Not so fast, little human!"

Ro'nak swiftly turned around when the words of Ulkair reached his ears. He saw the monster grin at him, he saw those hateful eyes glaring at him with anger and he saw the long tentacles of rotten flesh that erupted from Ulkair's stomach through the hole in it and shot towards him. He prepared for pain and closed his eyes, crossing his hands before his face.

The pain never came.

Opening his eyes and lowering his hands, he saw Voc'ron struggling against the tentacles, shouting for him to go and leave him. Ro'nak was about to argue and try to save his old friend, but he knew Voc'ron was right: it was time for goodbyes. He stepped back to the doorway, stopping just as he was about to close it. He smiled sadly at Voc'ron as he was yanked towards the laughing Ulkair.

As the door close, he saw an arc of lightning blast into the monster's flesh. Maybe someone had come to save them after all. It was faint flicker of hope, but it was better than nothing.

Ro'nak slammed the door shut and sprinted away to regroup with the survivors.

He still had a mission to accomplish.

* * *

Spiritseer Girneys shook his head in disappointment as his wraithguards hammered the mighty daemon in the courtyard with their reality shattering wraithcannons.

He hadn't expected to face daemons so quickly after making contact with a new species or civilization. This one had, according to the ranger squad - who had formed a firing line on the opposite side of the courtyard's walkways - hidden itself among the bodies and taken the form of the rebel group's leader before another leader of some sort had appeared on a balcony over the massive front gates. After a brief encounter the daemon had revealed itself and had begun to slaughter these rebels.

No wonder Farseer Aldreth had taken them with her to provide support.

A roar of rage interrupted his analysis of the situation.

The daemon trashed around the courtyard, swiping aside still living rebels and crushing bodies under its massive feet. It was full of small holes caused by the rifles of the rangers, and a part of its body was torn apart, sucked into the depths of the Warp by the wraithcannons of the wraithguards. It was desperate, it knew it would not last much longer under the barrage.

Girneys pointed his hand towards the daemon. He concentrated for a moment, and his palm began to crackle with lightning and warpfire, creating a corona of power around his hand. He sent a bolt of psychic power sailing through the air, blasting apart the daemon's right eye and scorching its face. The sudden attack sent the daemon stumbling backwards with a screech of agony and anger.

Something about this daemon confused Girneys, though. Even though it had a sizable Warp presence, it didn't emanate the vile, corrupting presence of Chaos like every other daemon did, nor did act like a Great Unclean One. This one did resemble those daemons, but it didn't laugh and taunt as its enemies died around it, it didn't preach about how all the deaths would feed its patron god, Nurgle, the Chaos God of Decay.

Maybe this daemon wasn't a daemon at all. But if so, then what was it? What could it possibly be, if not a daemon of Chaos, a being of the Warp? What a dilemma.

That question had to wait for another time for now; for now the creature had to be killed quickly, lest they were delayed too much.

Girneys knew what needed to be done and contacted the appropriate people. "_Sword of Vaul, _this is Spiritseer Girneys. I require fire support on my location, on the center of the courtyard of this fortress. There is a greater daemon of Chaos rampaging about."

"Fire solution plotted," came the reply. "Firing the bombardment cannons. Take cover, Spiritseer."

Girneys sent a psychic command for the wraithguards to duck and wait for the coming attack. He repeated this action with the rangers who immediately halted their firing and lay flat on the walkway, but not before one of them tossed a plasma grenade over the edge and right into the daemon's - or whatever it was - face. The grenade exploded in a bright burst of plasma, earning a screech from the daemon.

The dark clouds above the fortress split apart as a trio of laser beams plunged down from the orbit upon the daemonic creature one after another. The monster had no time to even scream before it was consumed completely. The very ground of the courtyard was split open, the bodies of the fallen were hurled about or simply blasted apart and vaporized by the beams, and the great daemon was gone.

Girneys rose from his kneeling position, observing the damage. The plan had worked; the daemon was gone, and he could continue his mission unhindered. His objective was to secure an extraction zone near the gates until the others arrived. He hoped they didn't take too long; this place gave him the creeps.

"Rangers!" he shouted, waving his witchstaff, and led his wraithguards through a door into the gatehouse. He could hear the others following close behind him. They descended a flight of stairs, ever vigilant for more daemons, although Girneys' psychic senses told him there was no activity in the Warp. He didn't tell the others that, though; it was better they were ready if an enemy attack did occur.

Subconsciously, Girneys diverted his gaze to the fortress, sensing something in there.

A sense of foreboding overcame him.

* * *

Colonel Jack O'Neill peeked around a corner carefully. Behind were the rest of SG-1, Martouf, Jacob and five of the rebel jaffa.

"You see anybody?" asked Jacob anxiously. He was carrying a zat in his hands, primed and ready to fire.

"No," replied Jack, withdrawing his head. "And put that thing down, I don't want get shot by accident."

"We should keep going," said Ro'nak as he walked past them. He had finally taken off that chainmail mask of his, revealing his face. He was pretty pale and had long diagonal scar on his face - from a sword fight with a rival Jaffa, he had said.

"How long till the throne room?" asked Daniel as the group began to continue walking down the corridor, their footsteps echoing.

"With this pace, only a moment now."

Jack was about to ask something when an explosion rocked the entire place, forcing everyone off-balance. The ground itself felt like it was going to break apart under their feet, and the ceiling dropped grumbled stones and dust upon them as they fell over. That explosion was definitely something he didn't want to be near of if it was ever repeated.

"What the hell was that?!" he asked loudly.

"No idea!" yelled Daniel.

"I think it was a bomb," said Sam. She had a bleeding wound on the side of her head where she had hit the wall when falling over. "Does Sokar have any kind of bombs that could have caused that?"

"No," replied Ro'nak, rising up from the floor. "It was no Ha'tak class ship's main weapon, either. They would have been most likely directed at the palace itself. This one seems to have been directed somewhere nearby, but not on the palace itself."

"Then what was it?" asked Daniel. He was trying to stand up himself, followed by the others.

"I do not know, but I have a bad feeling..."

"The mysterious alien ship, am I correct?" asked Teal'c suddenly. He raised an eyebrow like he always did when he saw Ro'nak turn to look at him with a curious expression. "I did not witness their weaponry, but from what your jaffa told me they were devastating."

"Teal'c, what are you talking about?" asked Jack, getting more and more worried as time went on. He did recall Teal'c telling him about an alien ship before Apophis had come to take them away from Ne'tu and took away his radio, possibly even destroyed it later on.

Ro'nak sighed and, feeling the curious and worried stares of the others present, turned to address them. "The ship Teal'c is referring to destroyed three Ha'tak and numerous Al'kesh and Death Gliders with only three shots of its massive frontal cannons. They smashed through fully powered shields and tore the Ha'tak asunder."

There were gasps of shock around him as the true power of the alien ship was revealed at last to the humans and the Tok'ra. The very thought of a weapon so powerful it could destroy a Ha'tak without any trouble was terrifying. Jack hoped this ship was friendly towards Earth, because if it wasn't...

"My lord," said a jaffa, addressing Ro'nak. "We should carry on." The jaffa looked over his shoulder hesitantly. "We have no idea if there are more of those monsters around here. Now that the strike force is all but gone, we have little to no chance to stand against Sokar."

"There you are, you little pests!"

Everyone turned to the direction they were walking towards to when the all too familiar goa'uld voice was heard. There stood Apophis with three feet long sword and a goa'uld hand device in his hands. His face was twisted in a scowl, and he gripped the blade tighter until his knuckles turned white.

"Apophis," spat Teal'c, gripping his staff weapon in his hands.

All who were unarmed stepped back as the ones with weapons took the front, aiming primed staff weapons and a zat'nik'tel at the goa'uld System Lord. Apophis just laughed and launched shockwave from his hand device, knocking over the jaffa before they could fire at him. He strode forth and stabbed his sword through a jaffa's neck, killing him outright.

Jack, having had enough of Apophis, took a knife off a jaffa next to him and blindsided Apophis, tackling him and sending them both to the ground. They struggled on the ground, trying to overpower the other and somehow stab their blades through each other. The others stared in amazement and shock as Jack held Apophis's hand away from stabbing him while he tried to push his knife hand to his opponent's face. The bigger shocker was that he was one winning at the moment.

"Go, guys!" yelled Jack, pulling his knife hand back and punching the System Lord to face with the other hand, which he had used to hold back Apophis's sword arm. It was a miracle he could even hold back Apophis. "I'll hold him off! Go!"

"But we can't just leave you!" shouted Sam, taken aback by Jack's words. Why would he order others who could help to go on without him?

Apophis landed a vicious headbutt, sending Jack off him. Both stood up and held their blades in a ready position, circling each other.

"Dammit, Carter, that's an _order_! Go, now, I can handle this bastard by _myself_!" he yelled with confidence, twirling the knife in his hand.

Reluctantly, Sam nodded, moving away from the coming battle with the others who had the same worried look on their faces. They turned their backs to starting battle, walking towards the throne room of Sokar in hopes of finding the goa'uld there.

Jack saw them leave from the corner of his eye and inwardly sighed in relief; he didn't want them to waste their time trying to help him defeat Apophis when they could go on and take out Sokar. He wanted to give them a change to succeed by taking on Apophis so they didn't need to do it and waste their time.

Then Jack realized his mistake. Why the hell did he think he could take on Apophis alone? Apophis was a goa'uld; he would have enhanced strength and more skill than Jack. How could he try to beat someone like that without any support?

Apophis must have sensed his hesitation because he smirked and swung his sword, barely missing Jack's head as he ducked under the swing. Jack parried the next strike with his knife, thanking the jaffa he took the knife for its almost foot long blade. He pulled back a bit, letting Apophis take a step forward as he pushed his sword, and then spun to the side, slashing the side of Apophis' armor and delivering a solid punch to his face.

Apophis staggered, but sent a blow on his own which Jack pushed aside and countered with quick hook to the chin. The goa'uld jumped away and brought up his left hand again, this time not for a strike but for a blast from the hand device. Jack rushed forwards and grabbed the hand just a shockwave blasted forth from the device, hitting the ceiling as Jack pushed the hand away from his face. He kicked Apophis to the side, forcing him off-balance, let go of the System Lord's hand, punched him in the chest and kicked him in the stomach, sending the goa'uld backwards.

Apophis regained his balance just in time to block the next kick aiming for his side. He swung his sword, nearly decapitating Jack if he hadn't blocked with his knife.

They continued their sword fight for some time, neither overpowering the other or landing a hit until Jack made his move: when their blades locked for the umpteenth time, he pushed to the left, breaking the bladelock, sending Apophis forward when his momentum lost resistance and offered Jack a chance to strike from behind. Apophis, however, anticipated this and turned around just in time to parry.

Jack ducked under Apophis' slash and countered with an uppercut to the chin, sending the System Lord staggering. He delivered a hard kick to the ribs and a well placed punch to the side of the head. He then slammed his shoulder right into Apophis' chest, knocking the wind out of him and knocking him over to the stone floor, unconscious.

Jack smiled as Apophis fell over. He had done what he had deemed impossible: beaten Apophis in hand-to-hand combat. What were the odds?

He dropped the knife to floor, seeing no further need for it. He panted heavily, worn out by the fight, slumping into a sitting position. He thought about ending it all now by taking the knife and killing Apophis with it. He would have done it, but he was too tired to rise up, pick up the knife, stab the damn bastard and be done with it.

_Kill him, quickly! He is not out__!_ a voice inside his head told him. It was a smooth, monotone voice and strangely sounded like he had known it for his whole life.

Jack hesitantly stood up and turned to face the spot Apophis had landed on a mere moment ago. His eyes widened when Apophis stood up again, the sword held up for a strike.

He watched in horror as the blade came down and cut his left eye.

He fell over, bleeding heavily from a gash on his face. With his remaining eye, he saw Apophis raise his sword high for a final strike on his neck.

_So this is how I go, huh?_ he mused in his head, sighing mentally. He hadn't really thought he would die here by the hands of his team's most hated enemy. It was strange; he didn't feel sad. No, he felt ready to face death.

He closed his remaining eye, waiting for his demise. What an idiot he had been.

The blade never came.

Hurried footsteps went further away from him, going to the direction Jack and the group had come from. Apophis had to have fled, but why? Why would he do that if had a chance to kill an enemy?

Multiple footsteps echoed from a side corridor, sounding lighter than jaffa boots. There were maybe three or four people, going by the sound of their boots hitting the cold, stone floor.

Jack opened his eye, his vision becoming blurrier by the minute. His body was going into shock, and he would probably die from blood loss in a few minutes. Through the haze he picked up four figures walking past him, their steps surprisingly light. He couldn't see details but at least they wore blue robes.

Who were they? What were they doing there? All sorts of questions gathered in his head as he closed his eye.

As he prepared to face death once again, the voice from earlier returned. _It is not yet time for you to die, Jack. Do you want to live? Do you want to have revenge for what _he _did to you? Do you want to protect your friends and loved ones? Do you want to have the power to do all that?_

Jack lost consciousness shortly after uttering out loud a single word: "Yes."

* * *

Farseer Aldreth walked down a dark corridor of the fortress, her eyes glued to the distant wooden double door at the end of the corridor.

With her were three warlocks: Kelgath who volunteered for the mission because he wanted to learn more of the new species, Ylurail who had insisted on coming along to ensure her safety and Colnir who was selected by Aldreth herself because she saw a need for his ability to create illusions and confuse his enemies. They were silent, sensing the same as their farseer: a daemonic presence in the large room up ahead.

Aldreth's thoughts turned to the dying human they had just passed. His left eye was gone, slashed with a sword by an unknown attacker who had fled the scene after hearing their footsteps. He was going to die soon, and there was nothing they could do for a human, even if they wanted to. But if this was truly another galaxy, how could there be humans here? It made no sense.

"Farseer, I sense something is happening inside," said Ylurail out of the blue, just as they stopped in front of the doors. "A group of humans is in trouble."

"As expected from humans," replied Aldreth. She loathed humans with a fiery passion, and would gladly rip them apart with psychic lightning. Humans had always been a cause for troubles and numerous deaths of eldar people, killing them indiscriminately for being "xenos". Damn them for their primitive barbarity and blind faith in that broken heap of a man they called an Emperor.

As one, two warlocks stepped back, leaving Kelgath and Aldreth standing in front of the door. The farseer folded her arms across her chest and turned her head toward the warlock. Although his face was hidden behind his helmet, Aldreth could sense Kelgath was smiling at the chance to use his powers. He was banned from using his pyrokinetic powers inside the ship after he had almost burned down a training hall during a training session. Kelgath had always been obsessed with burning things down.

"_Mael dannan_, Kelgath," she said and stepped away from him. "_Mael dannan._"

Kelgath's predatory grin could be felt on his face as flames began to engulf his hands. The flames licked his robes without never burning them and began to change color from bright yellow and red to ice blue. He pointed his hands at the door, palms only a few inches away from its smooth wooden surface.

The wooden door blew in from the power of the point-blank blast of incinerating Warp power, sending burning pieces of wood flying all over the large oval shaped hall beyond.

Aldreth was the first one through, charging through the smoke and flames.

* * *

Captain Samantha Carter landed hard on the marble floor from the sheer surprise and fear she felt.

Only a few moments ago had she and her team arrived in the throne room to look for Sokar. The room was oval shaped and built from white marble, giving it an awe-inspiring feel. At the other end of the throne room, some thirty meters away, stood a great obsidian throne, carved with depictions of the devil and hell. They had seen no signs of recent activity but before anyone had time to search the room further, something had landed in front of them: a huge creature with great wings.

It looked like it had never been a real human being at all: its skin was blood red; its upper legs and arms were covered in black, bony growth that formed carapace-like plates; its fingers and toes were razor sharp talons; a long, thin tail with a pointy end flailed behind its back; its head was seemingly made of the same carapace that covered its arms and legs, and had two flat horns that curved upward from either side of its head, while its chin was pointy and pointed straight downward; a pair of great red-black wings were folded on its back, making the thing look more menacing than it already was. The creature kept its arms crossed over its torso so that its hands were on its waist, all the while watching the rag-tag group of jaffa, humans and Tok'ra with contempt.

It growled at Ro'nak who stood defiant with his staff weapon aimed at the monster in front of them. It was astonishing he could still stand and even dare to point the weapon at it when everyone else was too afraid to do so, even Teal'c who was always calm. The creature flailed its tail wildly, growing impatient at the inaction of its opponents. It tilted its head to the side as its eyes passed by everybody, as if waiting for someone else to be with them.

Sam's eyes widened as she realized who it was searching for. It had looked at SG-1 before tilting its head, like it had expected them to be there in full numbers. Sam remembered how horrified she had felt when Jack told her and the others to go and leave him to fend for himself against Apophis in a desperate knife fight. But why was it waiting for him to be here? Had Sokar ordered this monster to kill SG-1 and the rebels, but now that Jack wasn't present it couldn't fulfill its orders?

"Where is the last one?" asked the monster in a hissing and dark voice. "I had thought the whole SG-1 would come to face me with these pitiful rebels." It growled again, this time louder as a staff blast hit in the chest harmlessly. "You dare try to shoot me, pitiful jaffa? You dare raise your weapon against your god?!"

Those words sent a horrifying realization into Sam's head: this creature _was_ Sokar! But how could that be? Wasn't he supposed to be a goa'uld with a human host or something? She would have never imagined that Sokar could be something like this. Monsters like this should only exist in fairy tales and children's books, or maybe horror films, and yet one stood before her! Maybe she should have expected something like this when she saw the monster Sokar had created.

"No matter," growled Sokar, unfolding his wings and moving his hands to his sides. "I shall end your pathetic lives now!" He - no, calling it a he would be too kind - lunged forward with an outstretched fist, sending an unfortunate jaffa who happened to stand nearest to it flying to the nearest wall.

Ro'nak fired again, hitting Sokar right in the face. It didn't even flinch as it continued its silent rampage, hurling another jaffa across the hall until he hit the far wall with a wet _splat._

_"_You are not even a challenge to me, jaffa!" it bellowed. "And I even sent my forces to the other side of the planet to fend off your diversion just to face you all myself!"

Now that explained why there were no enemy jaffa in the whole fortress when they had marched through it. Sam had wondered why they were gone, but had brushed it aside as good luck.

Sokar lunged again, smashing its fist through the marble floor between Sam's legs as she crawled backwards to get away from the monster. "This one is afraid. I had thought the Tau'ri would be fearless! And yet here you are crawling away from me like the little insect you are!"

Sam whimpered as Sokar grabbed her by her leg, lifting her easily into the air. She could see the others staring at her in fear. No one moved a muscle, they were too afraid of Sokar. Even Teal'c was motionless, aiming his staff weapon towards Sokar firmly, but his face betrayed fear for Sam's life. She saw Ro'nak aiming at Sokar's face again, unleashing a shot after shot, hitting his mark every time, but Sokar still didn't flinch as its face was blasted with enough power to kill a man dozens of times over.

"Pitiful," growled Sokar, dropping Sam to the unforgiving marble floor.

Sam crawled towards Daniel and her father who stood a good few meters away from Sokar, on the right side of the door. She couldn't look back at Sokar who laughed and laughed, absently kicking Ro'nak over. Sam reached her destination, grabbing the offered hand of Daniel and rising to a sitting position.

Teal'c and the pair of still living jaffa finally overcame their shock and opened fire, blasting the vile creature that was Sokar with dozens upon dozens of energy balls. It didn't flinch nor did it seem to even care; Sokar kept staring at the door as if waiting for something.

Then something unimaginable occurred: the heavy, wooden double door of the throne room exploded in, sending burning splinters and door pieces flying into the room. The strange thing was that the flames were blue like ice.

One large piece of door flew right towards Sokar's face, and it slammed it away with its fist, growling and jumping backwards.

Out of the smoking doorway charged a figure - going by the shape of the body, Sam guessed it was female. She wore a blue, sleeveless robe with armor worn over her chest and arms, and a tall, yellow helmet with a flat, wing-like thing spurting from the back of the helmet that curved over the top like the tail of a scorpion. A yellow cape hung from her back, its edges decorated with various symbols and lined with blue. In her hands she held a beautiful, silver spear that emitted weird light from its blade.

The newcomer threw the spear at Sokar as she ran past the stunned jaffa and humans. The spear glanced its side, leaving a shallow gash in the skin that seeped black blood. The spear - much to the surprise of everyone present - flew back to the hands of the woman, who stood calmly a few meters away from Sokar.

"Who are you?" asked Sokar.

The woman didn't register its question. She stood in front of a creature so terrifying it had made Sam herself quiver in fear. Her face was hidden behind that tall yellow helmet of hers, but Sam had a feeling she was glaring not only at Sokar but at everyone else in the room.

Then three other figures stepped out of the smoke. Each wore a blue robe, yellow armor on their chest and a blue helmet with yellow faceplate that was shorter than the woman's. They all held a sword in their hands. The swords were a good two feet long and glowed with a soft, vibrating light.

No one spoke for the next moment.

The silence broke when a soft humming noise filled the air. Sam turned to look at the three newcomers in blue with curiosity, gaining another reason to be shocked when she saw that flames were licking the hands of the one in the middle, burning brightly but leaving him unharmed.

Sokar growled once again, lunging for the woman who had wounded it. Just as its claws were about to reach her, blue flames erupted right in its face, earning a howl of pain from it. It halted, trying put out the fire.

The woman leaped up, using Sokar's arm as a springboard, and sliced a deep cut in the monster's face - a deed Sam had deemed almost impossible after it withstood every shot Ro'nak had fired at it. She continued on, plunging the spear into Sokar's shoulder and delivering a hard kick to its burned and wounded face.

"Who is she?" whispered Daniel in amazement as the woman flipped off the creature's shoulder, leaving the spear in it as a fist came close to her. "That is just impossible..."

A bolt of lightning shot from the hand of the newcomer nearest to Sam, making Sokar jerk back as the bolt made contact with its chest. Then another jet of fire struck it in the same spot, turning its skin black from the heat. Before Sokar could even scream in agony, the spear that was stuck in its shoulder came free, flying through the air to the woman's hand like a missile.

Glancing to the side, Sam realized the three robed men had started walking forward. Then, they began to fade away, becoming more and more transparent by the minute. She noticed a faint glow and hand movement of the one furthest away from her, the one who had done nothing yet, just before they all vanished from the sight completely. It appeared this was his doing.

Confused, Sam turned her attention back to Sokar and realized that everyone with a staff weapon had started to fire again. She cursed the fact that she didn't have a weapon of her own.

Sokar howled in pain as the long spear of the mysterious woman dug deep into its gut, sending strange pulses of electricity coursing through the monster's body. It backhanded her away from it along with the spear, sending her flying backwards. She twisted in midair and landed on her feet, sliding a meter or two on the marble before coming to a stop in the doorway.

Suddenly, she, too, disappeared before their very eyes.

Sam blinked once, twice, thrice even, while staring the spot occupied by the woman.

Then a wound appeared on Sokar's back as if slashed by a sword. Then another slash materialized on its legs and a third one appeared in its abdomen. Sokar growled in anger, twirling around with its fists, trying to hit something.

Staff weapons fell silent, their wielders unwilling to fire for the moment.

Sam's eyes widened in realization; all four had become invisible! But was that even possible?

A deep stab wound in the chest stopped Sokar in its tracks, and three deeper cuts stopped it from struggling. A spear and a trio of swords began to appear bit by bit, finally revealing the four warriors. Sokar groaned and tried to flap its wings, until fire erupted once again on its face, burning the deep wound that had already stopped bleeding.

Sam could do nothing but stare in amazement as the three sword wielders jumped back from their female comrade who didn't even seem to struggle against Sokar. The three stood next to each other, completely motionless, not even panting or showing any signs of fatigue. Sam could feel something was off about the situation: there was a faint smell of sulfur in the air and she could taste copper in her mouth, and even as she ignored these facts a strange haze had began to surround Sokar as if the temperature had suddenly increased.

Sokar screamed loudly as a hazy mist began to surround it and lightning bolts began to rain down upon it from thin air like nature itself was against the monster. Somehow, even through the heat vapor and lightning, Sam could see that the woman was somehow acting as a catalyst, creating and guiding the bolts of lightning to strike at Sokar, blasting the vile creature with the power of Mother Nature herself.

Then it was over, and as fast as they had appeared the haze and lightning bolts disappeared, leaving behind Sokar's smoking corpse, held upright by the woman's silver spear.

"Impossible," whispered Daniel, subconsciously taking a step backwards. "Did you just see what I did?"

"Yes, Daniel Jackson, we did," said Teal'c, inching closer to them. His voice was calm, like what just happened was an everyday thing to him. "I can only imagine what else these people can do."

"Yeah, I second that," said Daniel, turning his eyes briefly to Ro'nak who was tending to a jaffa Sokar had punched aside. "I wonder if they're friendly."

The woman drew her spear from Sokar's chest and sent a small pulse at it, reminding Sam of the goa'uld hand device. Sokar fell over backwards, bleeding black blood and ichor from numerous deep, open wounds and ruptures in its skin. Its wings were torn and broken, unable to move at all. Its face was twisted and warped, its horns had melted under the power of the lightning strikes, leaving only bony stumps behind.

Then woman who slew the devil itself slumped down, using the spear as support, panting and heaving. Sam felt an urge to congratulate her for the deed, but didn't want to move from her position, fearing it might bring the wrath of the other three upon her.

Speaking of the three mysterious warriors. All of them had rushed to the side of their fallen comrade, helping her stand up. They seemed to communicate among themselves, but no words were heard. Either they didn't speak or they had radios in their helmets.

Sokar moaned in agony, spitting jet-black blood from its mouth. "Who would have know," it whispered, "that I would fall so easily..." Its words were cut short by a sword stabbing into its chest. Sokar coughed more blood and slumped down at last, last ounce of life leaving it. However, it managed to whisper one more sentence: "Master, forgive me..."

As Sokar died, Sam somehow felt the dread feeling of fear lifting up from her shoulders. It was as if Sokar had somehow generated an aura of fear and despair around it to weaken its enemies. Impossible, but the events of this day seriously made Sam consider the possibility of it.

Ro'nak took a brave step towards the four warriors, attracting their gazes to him. To Sam's utter surprise, he bowed to them and walked past them towards the great obsidian throne on the other end of the room, spitting at Sokar's corpse as he walked by. The last two living jaffa rushed after him, giving quick bows of their own to the four. The warriors just tilted their heads in clear confusion. Had they expected something else altogether?

The woman rose up to her full height, and Sam finally realized just how tall she was. She stood at least six feet ten inches tall, slightly taller than her brethren. For the first time since the start of the battle, Sam noticed that their armor glowed with a soothing, faint light. The woman watched the jaffa examine the throne for a few seconds and then diverted her attention to the humans and Tok'ra.

Even through the helmet's eyepieces her fiery glare could be felt. Thankfully, a hand of her comrade took hold of her shoulder before the situation could escalate.

A man on her left crossed his hands across his chest and murmured something. Then they all faded away in a swirl of wind and dust.

Sam looked left and right, trying to locate them. Only after hearing a piece of burning wood shift to the side did Sam realize they had left. They had come and gone like ghosts. This might be a bit difficult to explain to General Hammond back in SGC when they got back.

"Hey, wait a second," said Daniel out of the blue, looking from side to side. "Where's Jack? Shouldn't he be here already?"

Everyone began to do the same as Daniel, while Sam's eyes widened in horror and a shiver went down her spine. Where was Jack? He had stayed behind to battle Apophis with that knife he took from a jaffa. What was he thinking? Telling others to go without him while he fought a hopeless battle. But what was taking him so long? Surely he had beaten Apophis and was on his way here, right?

No amount of reassuring could stop Sam from sprinting off into the stony corridors of the gigantic fortress, ignoring the shouts of her father and teammates.

* * *

Before the great titanium gates of the fortress stood nine figures.

One was dressed in blue robes that billowed in the cold breeze that blew through the city. He also wore a yellow helmet with black, blank faceplate. In his hands was a two meters long staff that glowed with psychic power. He was Spiritseer Girneys of Alaitoc.

Behind him stood three towering and bulky, blue colored wraithbone constructs. Their big and long heads were yellow and the big weapons in their hands were as black as the night. These were wraithguards, eldar warriors whose souls had been saved from the death itself and placed within these robotic bodies to wage war for their kin once more.

Near them stood five rangers, led by Merenech. They were dressed in dark brown cloaks and had their hoods on. Under the cloak they wore the blue body armor of a guardian of Alaitoc. They held ranger long rifles in their hands, aiming down the long street that led to a strange circle that was held upright by the stone platform it was embedded into. This strange circle seemed to be a monument or a device of some sort, but the eldar did not know for certain.

All around them lay rotting corpses of their attackers who had emerged from the fortress before the eldar had even had the time to reach the front of the gates. These corpses had been nothing more than rotting, moaning and hungering living dead, much like the plague zombies of Nurgle, the Chaos God of Pestilence. No casualties had been taken since the zombies had been held back by the sheer firepower of the wraithcannons and long rifles, not to mention the psychic powers of Girneys.

Every now and then another kind of a corpse could be seen. These ones were armored, cybernetically enhanced creatures that resembled the servitors of the Imperium of Man.

For a long time now, no more attackers had emerged to challenge the might of the eldar.

It was at that moment that the farseer and the warlocks exited the fortress, their mission complete. No greetings were exchanged, and no words were uttered.

Two Wave Serpents landed near them, opening their rear hatches as they hovered a few feet off the ground. The wraithguards and Girneys embarked onto the first one; the rangers, the warlocks and the farseer onto the another one.

The Wave Serpents took off, flying up through the dark clouds that lingered above the city.

As the grav-tanks disappeared, the massive front gates opened slowly and out stepped SG-1. They rushed down the street towards the Stargate, ignoring the corpses that littered the ground. The scared civilian inhabitants of the city, who knew it best to hide in their homes when someone moved outside, stepped out of their houses, staring at them as they ran. As they began to dial the address of Earth, it would be noticed that only three of them were standing up.

Because on the shoulders of Teal'c lay the seemingly lifeless body of Jack O'Neill.

* * *

**And that's that.**

**Onto to the cameos.**

**Number 1, Ulkair is Ulkair from Chaos Rising. Yeah...**

**And the number 2, the harder one, is Sokar. He is based on Diablos from Final Fantasy VIII. I just had to include him.**

**Now you might be thinking why I killed Jack. Well, I didn't kill him, but he did lose his eye and he did accept the power of the mysterious voice. No one knows what'll happen to him. OK, I know somewhat.**

**Also, the eldar phrase _mael dannan_ means No mercy/no quarter. Literally it means "total and merciless extermination". ****Oh, and no, Colnir doesn't have an ability to turn invisible; he can create illusions and effect the senses of his opponents, making it seem like he and his allies could vanish into thin air.**

**What do say about the language barrier between the eldar and humans? I made it to ensure that they won't be able cooperate immediately. Eldar first have to learn to speak English to communicate with the Tau'ri or the jaffa. Maybe I can make Daniel learn to speak eldar from an artifact of ancient times.**

**See ya!**


	4. Explanations And Offers

**Hello everybody! I apologize in advance for the overall boringness of this chapter, fighting has to wait for the next chapter.**

**_Benuham_: Thank you! Well, here's more!**

**_Trife_: Thank you for your praise! Don't worry there won't be sharing of technology with humans at all; even if I wanted to, it would be impossible due to the fact all weapons only work on eldar hands (would have been good to know before, but oh well). Yes, they will continue to work from the shadows mostly, making their presence felt in a flashy and lethal manner. Heh heh just like in the next chapter.**

**_Lunatic Pandora1_: Yes, farseers are cool, and Avatars, too, although if one was the main character, then the story would be nothing but "kill, crush, burn them all!" style with Avatar beating the crap out of the everything it sees. Eldar-hates-human thing, huh? As far as I've written, only Farseer Aldreth actually hates them - the others of course still dislike and won't trust them. But yes, it seems to be more like superiority over the mon-keigh (I'd like to know how that is pronounced). I'll try to include the paths, but it won't be easy, considering there is an unknown number of Paths.**

**_starspawn07_: Yes, eldar might have been an excellent choice for a playable race in DoW2. When the game was yet to come out, I had thought you could play as all the races like in DC or SS. Yeah, they would have probably been a better choice for a game like DoW2, but you can't argue with the game makers, can you?**

**_VexMaster_: Ah, but who said anything about a daemon? Well, except you, of course. Ulkair was an experiment of Sokar, who himself was just... something, I don't know, let's just say he was the devil, OK? And the mysterious voice who spoke to Jack will be revealed later on. I won't include real daemons from WH40K in this, but some might appear like Ulkair did. Yes, Voc'ron is from your story. You didn't read the P.S.? I was going to make it so he died by Ulkair's hand, but your comment made me change it.**

**_Dusel_: Thank you. Nurgle won't be in the story: Chaos is replaced with others, but we haven't seen the last of Nurgle's plagues or the daemon-things of Chaos, not by a long shot...**

**_Left hand turn signal_: Yeah, that is something that might turn out funny. Although explaining the Imperium to the Tau'ri won't take place until much further along the way, considering the eldar have to learn to speak English first, and the two sides have to actually meet. And even then it would take quite a while. I don't think the eldar even have to explain about the Emperor and the Great Crusade, though.**

**About the thing about psykers: No member of the SG teams will be psykers, but I will, however, include a Blank.**

**As always, enjoy!**

* * *

**Explanations And Offers**

Autarch Fetalque Swiftblade sat in the _Sword of Vaul'__s_ briefing room listening to Farseer Aldreth and Spiritseer Girneys tell him about the events that had occurred on the planet. They were sitting at the other side of the large, round table that dominated the room.

"So, you say there was _no_ daemon after all?" he asked Aldreth, surprised by the revelation. Aldreth had told she had sensed a daemonic presence within the fortress, but now she said it was not what she had first suspected.

"Yes, that is what I said," replied Aldreth. Fetalque was sure she was frowning behind her helmet."But that is not all I said. There is indeed something daemonic and malevolent there. It is simply not the thing we defeated, but something hidden, something sealed away."

"That is troubling. Do you know where exactly? Is it inside the fortress?"

Aldreth was quiet, her mind searching for an answer in the Warp. "I am not certain, but I believe it is. Perhaps underneath it." She rose to her feet. "I apologize. I need to meditate in peace."

"I understand."

Aldreth nodded and walked to the door. As the door opened, she paused and slowly turned around, staring absently at the ceiling, her mind elsewhere entirely. "A Webway gate? Here? That can't be right..."

Fetalque raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure, Aldreth?"

"No. A fleeting sensation, nothing more. I will be in my chamber, if you need me." She then left, and the door closed behind her.

Girneys tilted his head to the side. "Hmmm, I, too, sense something. It is faint, and I cannot pinpoint it with any more certainty than the farseer. But there is _something_ out there, and I do not refer to the daemon."

Fetalque nodded. If it really was a Webway gate, then perhaps they were not as lost as they had thought themselves to be. "Girneys, tell the rest of the seers on board to focus on searching for the Webway gate in the surrounding void. If it really is here, we might have a chance of finding our way back home."

"As you wish, Autarch."

A crew member came charging in out of the blue. He was dressed in a plain blue robe which was decorated with numerous sashes and small rune-shaped gems.

"Honored Autarch, we have a situation in the crew quarters!" he all but yelled, coming to a halt next to the table, panting. "Aft side, near the Aspect Warrior sparring room."

Fetalque shot up from his seat and stormed out of the room.

He knew that a situation in the crew quarters could mean only two things: either an enemy boarding party had managed to get aboard unnoticed - which was impossible because the _Sword of Vaul _was hidden behind the sixth planet of the solar system and if any ship came close the ship's powerful sensors would notice it long before it could even launch a boarding party - or there was a conflict among the eldar themselves.

Fetalque hoped that neither was the case.

* * *

In the briefing room of the SGC, the mood was dark.

SG-1 had returned an hour ago with a man in jaffa armor in tow. After taking Jack to the infirmary to be taken care of, they immediately headed to the briefing room for debriefing, opting to leave the medical check-up for later. There they recalled their experiences on the hellish prison moon, Ne'tu, and on Delmak itself, the appearance of the great monster Ulkair and the battle against Sokar. General Hammond was glad they had stayed alive, but the fact that Jack had decided to fight against Apophis himself troubled him.

"About this new ship," Hammond began, after the long explanation was over. "What can you tell about it?"

"I can answer that, General Hammond," said the jaffa who sat across from him, next to Teal'c.

"Who are you exactly, again? I didn't catch your name."

"I am Ro'nak, the new ruler of Delmak and the supreme commander of Delmak's fleet." Ro'nak bowed his head as a sign of respect. "I was on board the Ha'tak closest to the ship when it appeared. A massive energy burst shut down nearly every system in the ship, and from what I hear it did the same to the rest of the fleet on Delmak and its orbit."

"How did it appear? You said it unleashed a massive burst of energy, but how is that possible?"

"I do not know how it appeared in the first place or why, but it was damaged and motionless for some time after its appearance. It was through luck alone we were able to get our ship working and head for Delmak before the ship blasted apart more Ha'taks than it did."

"How many did it destroy?" asked Hammond, suddenly afraid of the new ship in case it was hostile.

"Three Ha'taks and innumerable Death Gliders were lost to the rage of its massive frontal cannons. Their shots were powerful enough to destroy fully shielded motherships." Ro'nak took a deep breath and closed his eyes, recalling his experience.

"And the four that saved us?" asked Daniel, from his seat next to Hammond. "What can you tell about them?"

"Nothing more than that they were not alone there..." Ro'nak grimaced, most likely remembering the sea of zombie corpses that littered the front of the fortress' gates. "The corpses were a clear sign of it, and so was the crater in the courtyard."

"So, Ro'nak, how do you know the people and jaffa won't rebel against you when you rise to power?" asked Sam from next to Daniel. "Won't they think you are just another goa'uld who wants to enslave them?"

Much to everyone's surprise, Ro'nak laughed. "Anyone who is not Sokar would be an acceptable ruler. But let me tell you a small secret." He grinned, looking at everyone in the room in turn. "I am not a jaffa; I am a human. I was taken in by a jaffa when I was banished from my home years ago."

"Why were you banished?" asked Daniel, shocked by the revelation. "And didn't anyone notice the difference? Surely someone would have noticed you were not one of them."

"No one did notice. I guess I blended in well." He lowered his head a bit, recalling something from his past. "I was banished years ago because of my... abilities. You see, in my home village the goa'uld are seen as evil sorcerers because their technology is so advanced and amazing compared to ours. When people found out I was able to see visions and warnings from the future, they thought I was possessed by a goa'uld and acted accordingly."

"Did you say visions from the future?" asked Sam skeptically. "How is that even possible?"

"I do not know, but I consider that a great gift which has saved my life countless times already. They have prevented me from going into ambushes, warned me of attacks that would have surely killed me, and most importantly they prevented me from attacking the mysterious alien ship today like the other part of fleet did."

"What kind of visions are we talking about here, Ro'nak?" asked Hammond, skeptical about the fact himself but he felt Ro'nak told the truth.

"Mostly they are absurd and unclear - cryptic at best. In the vision that most likely saved thousands of lives, I saw my own dead body laying in front of me. Suddenly, it grabbed my hand and told me to find a 'guiding beacon'. First I believed it was the alien ship, but I am not completely sure anymore."

Hammond nodded; the explanation was enough for him, even if he didn't fully believe in visions from the future.

"General Hammond, I should get going now," said Ro'nak politely as he stood up from his seat. "It is only a matter of time before a goa'uld System Lord hears about Sokar's death and tries to take advantage of the situation. And since the alien vessel has disappeared and our fleet is in disarray, we have no real way to protect ourselves."

Hammond nodded in understanding and he stood up himself. "As you wish. I hope this is the beginning of an alliance between our people."

Ro'nak smiled wildly. "Don't worry about it, General. As long as I am alive, my people will always fight beside yours." He bowed and walked to the staircase on the side of the room, stopping at the top to turn back to the other occupants of the room. "I saw you use a device before going through the Stargate, what was that?" he asked.

"It's called the Garage Door Opener," answered Daniel. "It sends a signal through the gate here and after confirmation the iris that protects the gate is opened." He stood up from his seat. "We can give you one. You can't come though without it."

"Thank you, Doctor Jackson." With that said Ro'nak descended the staircase to the control room to wait for the Stargate to open. Teal'c went after him to keep him company, knowing that they both shared the same goal: to free their people from the goa'uld. It was hard to imagine them not getting along well; Ro'nak even made Teal'c smile more in one hour than he usually did in an entire day.

"Excuse me. General Hammond, I have news," said Doctor Janet Fraiser as she came in through the door on the back. She seemed relieved.

"What is it, Doctor?" asked Hammond, hoping the news was good.

"Well, firstly: Colonel O'Neill is out of the surgery and is stable," explained Janet as she walked closer to the table. "His left eye is gone, however, and we had to remove it. He'll have to wear an eye patch for the rest of his life, I'm afraid. He was lucky the sword didn't cut deeper or he would have surely died from blood loss before he was even brought here."

Hammond felt relief wash over him in an instant, removing the anxiety he had felt since O'Neill was taken to the infirmary an hour or two ago. He could tell that the others were also relieved from the way their faces lit up, but he felt their worry when Janet explained how Jack would remain one-eyed for the rest of his life.

"Secondly: I wish to go to the planetside," she continued unexpectedly. "I want to make sure Jacob and Martouf are alright. I heard you were tortured to some extent." The last statement was not a question but it held a questioning tone in it.

"We were, but not badly. Just some mind games to make us break," replied Sam. "Apophis used some kind of hallucinogen to make us see things and reveal information. None of us broke, though."

"Why do you want to go to the planet so eagerly, Doctor Fraiser?" asked Hammond. "Even if the people have rejected the goa'uld, it doesn't mean there won't be possible rebellions against the new ruler."

"I'll take that risk if necessary, General," said Janet sternly, leaving little room to argue.

Hammond sighed in defeat. He had no time or will to argue with the doctor. "As you wish; you have my permission to go. You can wait with Teal'c and Ro'nak downstairs."

Janet nodded and turned on her heels. "I'll go change my clothes first," she said, referring to her white coat, skirt and heels. Hammond briefly wondered if she had any clothes for this kind of situation because she didn't go to other planets often. He'd have to trust her on this.

Janet walked out of the room closing the door after her.

Hammond turned to the other occupants of the room. "You are dismissed," he said as they stood up from their seats. "Return here in three hours and we'll discuss our next course of action."

"Yes, sir," they spoke in unison as they hurriedly left the room for the infirmary. They were eager to see the colonel recover, and he could understand that: they were teammates and friends after all. What kind of a friend wouldn't? The colonel's recovery would be very important for them.

Hammond went to his office to ponder what to do next. He closed the door and sat down on his chair.

He had to make a call.

* * *

When Jack O'Neill came to, he found himself in the infirmary of the SGC.

He moved his eye from side to side lazily feeling numbness on the right side of his face. He heard faint beeping from the side and knew it was a monitor for his vitals. He tried to sit up, but his body felt numb like he was drugged. Maybe it was some medicine he was given when he arrived here.

His eye widened in surprise as blurry memories returned to him. He remembered the near-fatal sword strike of Apophis that cut into his face; he barely remembered how he was carried on Teal'c's shoulders through the Stargate before he lost consciousness again; he even remembered the voice that resonated in his head, promising him power for his revenge.

Wait a moment! His eye, as in singular and not in plural?

Jack immediately lifted his hands to his left eye and was shocked to find bandages there - the whole left side of his face was bandaged. He sat up and dangled his legs over the side of the bed, still holding his face.

He stumbled up from the bed, feeling dizzy and having a headache that compared to the biggest hangover in his life.

"Feels like I was stomped on by an elephant," muttered Jack to himself as he reached for a wall to lean on to. He cursed as a wave of nausea washed over him. He stumbled backwards and ended up sitting on the bed he tried to get off from.

He checked himself. He was still dressed in his mission clothes: black T-shirt, baggy green trousers, army boots and a green vest which was a bit worn and torn from the last mission.

He groaned as he stood up holding his head; the headache wasn't going anywhere unfortunately. He walked to sink to wash his face.

Standing in front of the mirror, Jack examined the bloody bandages on his face as he let the water flow from the tap. He splashed water on his face and leaned over the sink so water would drip back to the sink and not to the floor; Janet would probably get mad if he messed the place up.

After wiping his face with a towel and putting it back to its place on the side of the sink, he diverted his attention to the bandages that hid the left side of his face. Slowly, he began to open them, ripping them off and dropping them to the side of the sink. The sight of his face made him gasp in shock: where his left eye should have been there was a bloody and empty eye socket and a long, vertical scar which went from his forehead to his cheek, dividing the eye socket.

"What happened to my eye?" he murmured. His hands tightened into fists as he grimaced. "What happened to... my eye!?" he shouted in confusion. He wasn't thinking clearly anymore: the lack of his eye was simply too shocking for him. He felt like screaming out loud for the whole base to hear.

"Jack, are you okay?" asked Daniel as he came rushing into the room. "We heard you yell and..." He stopped talking when Jack turned to face him with his empty eye socket. "Jack, your eye..."

"I know," growled Jack, staring back at Daniel.

"Oh my god," gasped Sam as she entered the infirmary. She stared at Jack - or, more likely, the empty eye socket which was still bleeding.

"Yes, I have no eye," said Jack, a little annoyed. "Is that so horrible?"

"Well, Janet did say she had to remove it and-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there! Janet removed my eye? Why would she do that?"

"She said Apophis's sword cut it in half," answered Daniel. "It had to removed. Oh my god, why did take off the bandages? You're bleeding!"

"Hmph, I know," said Jack before opening the tap again to wash his face of the blood that slowly flowed down his face. He washed his face and wiped it with the towel he used before. Maybe taking off the bandages was not so good an idea after all. Fortunately, the blood wasn't coming out anymore. "Where is she anyway?" he asked, referring to Janet who he thought would be there after he woke up.

"Off to change her clothes," said Sam. "She's going to the planet to make sure dad and Martouf are okay. General Hammond gave her permission."

"Ah, okay, I can understand that." Jack walked back to his bed and sat down. The headache was getting worse the longer he was standing up. "You can go now. I need to get some rest." He laid down without looking at them.

"Okay," said Daniel and walked out of the infirmary, dragging Sam in tow despite her protests. "You heard him, Sam. He wants to be alone."

The door closed after them, leaving Jack alone in the infirmary once again. He sighed, closing his eye for a moment. Maybe he shouldn't have taken off the bandages at all; even if his face was numb, the empty eye socket was still bleeding, although not as badly as a moment ago. He opened the eye again letting it stare dully at the ceiling.

This was not a good day for Jack.

* * *

"What is the meaning of this!" roared Autarch Fetalque as he witnessed the sight before him.

He had just arrived in the crew quarters of the _Sword of Vaul,_ and already he felt his iron discipline - forged through centuries of walking the Path of Command and the Path of Warrior before it - failing him. It was not the crew quarters themselves that made him lose his patience. Oh, no, no, no, the white walls of the long corridor or the numerous doors on each side of the corridor that led to crewmen's quarters, each decorated with a beautifully crafted, glowing rune, were not the reason of his anger.

It was fact that a warlock - wearing a red robe, white helmet and rune armor; the colors of the craftworld of Saim-Hann - and a ranger of Alaitoc were wrestling in the middle of the corridor. They were at each others throats, ignoring Fetalque's presence like he didn't exist. This kind of behavior was expected from orks or even humans, but from eldar? Unacceptable!

Fetalque felt his anger rise, but kept himself from tearing them off each other. The many Paths he had walked and mastered did not allow him to lose himself to his anger, no matter what was happening - especially not now. He decided to give one last warning before he would stop this fight from going on any longer.

"Warlock, Ranger! What is the meaning of this!" he bellowed at them, finally catching their attention. "Why are you two fighting like some filthy orks!"

The two combatants hastily stood up to face the autarch.

The warlock was the first one to reply to him. "Autarch, I..."

"Silence, Warlock! I want to hear this from the ranger." Fetalque anger was suppressed but his voice made it clear he would have none of this. "Why are you two fighting?"

The ranger glared at the warlock with malice. "He called me _eshairr,_" he explained, and Fetalque immediately understood the reason for this mess: _eshairr_ was a deadly insult to a ranger.

Fetalque turned to glare at the warlock who stood motionless. "Explain your actions, Warlock. Why did you call him that? If not for the current circumstances you would be punished for this." Of course the warlock wouldn't be really punished for insulting the ranger or for the fight, but Fetalque had to scare him to avoid similar conflicts. He couldn't allow fighting aboard the _Sword of Vaul _no matter the circumstances.

"He is an outcast! He shouldn't be allowed on board! Who knows unstable he is! Autarch, we cannot allow outcasts like him to stay aboard! We should-"

"Enough!" bellowed Fetalque, having heard enough of the warlock's rantings. "Go from here! And make sure I will never catch you fighting with another ranger."

The warlock left without a word; he knew it was pointless to argue. He disappeared from the autarch's sight soon after, vanishing behind closing doors. His dislike for rangers was understandable, but insulting one and then having a fight with him, however, was not. Inner conflicts were common, but an outright fight while the ship was in unknown waters was inexcusable.

Fetalque turned to chasten the ranger. "You should have controlled your anger. Even if you have walked the dangerous Path of the Outcast, it doesn't mean you have a right to attack others aboard this vessel. I had thought your patience wouldn't be limited to battle only."

The ranger bowed. "My apologies, Autarch, but he insulted me and my loyalties. I couldn't allow that!"

"I do not care what he did or what you did; I want to make sure this doesn't happen again, ever. Do I make myself clear, Ranger?"

"Yes, Autarch!"

"Good. Now, get out of my sight!"

The ranger bowed once more and left, walking to the other direction as the warlock. Fetalque watched him travel down the corridor towards the ship's sparring room, probably to meet up with the rest of his squad.

Fetalque turned on his heels and began to walk back when the comm-feed rune in his visor began to blink. He blink-clicked it. "Speak."

"Autarch Fetalque, your presence is required on the bridge as soon as possible," came a voice Fetalque didn't recognize. Somehow the voice held authority not unlike that of an autarch like Fetalque himself. The other thing that made him feel suspicious was the use of his name and title; usually he was addressed by his title only.

"I'm on my way," replied Fetalque and cut the feed. He took one last look in the direction the ranger had gone in and closed his eyes to feel the psychic radiation of the ship's wraithbone core. It was a welcome feeling, one that allowed Fetalque to rest and calm down, to forget his burden as an autarch.

He opened his eyes and found himself back in the corridor. He hadn't moved from his spot at all during his brief trance.

Sighing, Fetalque turned back, walking down the corridor to the tall, narrow doorway at its end. He turned his head to look at a certain door on the far left before entering though the doorway, letting the door close behind him to stop his train of thoughts.

His surprise visit could wait for another time; he had more urgent matters at hand.

* * *

The Stargate activated and sent forth an energy burst before settling into a wall of still water. Out of its wormhole stepped a group of eight humans and a jaffa. They were greeted by another jaffa in dark red armor with a staff weapon in his hands.

"Kree, Lord Ro'nak," he said, bowing. "Your presence is needed within the citadel. Hundreds of humans have gathered before the gates to see the man who has freed them from Sokar's vile grasp."

Sure enough, a small crowd of men and women had gathered at the other end of the long road that led from the gate to the fortress. The sea of dead bodies had been cleared away and replaced with the crowd of living.

"Thank you, jaffa," said Ro'nak with a smile, watching the crowd with satisfaction. Behind him the human part of the group was staring wide-eyed at the mass of people, having never expected people to come to see him.

"My lord, I was instructed to escort you and your friends to the fortress."

"Who instructed you?"

"Master Voc'ron, my lord," answered the jaffa, earning a gasp of shock from Teal'c and Ro'nak. "He gave me clear orders to wait for your return."

"Voc'ron lives?" Ro'nak cried out in surprise. "But... how? I saw Ulkair rip him from my side as I closed the courtyard door as we fled. Even if he survived that, the explosion that tore open the courtyard should have killed him!"

"He said he had been near the front gates when Ulkair was struck down. The following explosion had thrown him backwards and saved him from the falling rubble."

Ro'nak shuddered at the memory of the crater. Pushing the thought aside, he smiled and grabbed the jaffa's shoulder, urging him to lead on. "Well then, let us be on our way!" he said rather enthusiastically.

"As you wish, my lord," said the jaffa, and with that they both left for the fortress that loomed in the distance like a mountain.

The humans and a jaffa watched them go, most of them clueless of what was going; while three of them knew exactly what the two had spoken about. They followed the first two, staying a few steps behind them.

As they neared the crowd, Janet walked closer to Sam. "Who's this Voc'ron?" she asked. She had been briefed about the events that had taken place here but there had been no mention of any Voc'ron.

"A jaffa who saved us with Ro'nak and Teal'c when they started their rebellion," Sam explained. "He was... erm, _is _a good friend of Ro'nak and his second-in-command."

Janet nodded in understanding and turned her attention back to the road ahead. They were nearing the crowd and it had already gone silent after seeing Ro'nak walking toward it. People had departed to form a path in the middle of the crowd. The massive, black titanium gates were open, allowing the group to pass through.

"Lord Ro'nak! You have returned!" exclaimed a jaffa from the courtyard as they entered. "Master Voc'ron awaits you inside," he said, gesturing at the door across from them. Of course, SG-1 and Ro'nak remembered the door easily; it was the same door they had used to get to the courtyard. "He is in the throne room with the Tok'ra representatives."

"I did not know Tok'ra would send a representative this soon," Ro'nak murmured to himself. "Unless the Tok'ra from before contacted their superiors about me and my coup..."

"My lord?" the jaffa asked, hearing Ro'nak mutter something he thought to be an order.

"Nothing, jaffa. You can return to your duty now."

The jaffa bowed and went into the guardhouse, intending to close the gates. The group stood there for a while, staring at the gates as they slammed shut with an almighty _bang_ and its ancient, internal locking mechanism locked it in place.

"Let's go," said Ro'nak and began to walk round the chasm to the door with the jaffa escort, leaving the others behind to stare in amazement at the crater in the ground, fearing what the weapon that had done it could do.

* * *

The door to the command bridge slid open with a silent hiss, revealing Autarch Fetalque in all his glory.

"Report," he said as he walked up the stairs of his dais. "What is so important to call me here immediately?" He stopped at the top the dais when he saw someone else lying comfortably on _his _command throne. Not sitting like Fetalque would sit, but laying sideways on it with his legs dangling over the armrest.

It was an eldar wearing a brown armor like that of an autarch, a beautiful black cape edged with golden runes, and a blue sash that crisscrossed his chest. On the armrest of the throne was his helmet; it was just like Fetalque's, but instead of the white-feathered wings that bend upwards on the sides, there were mandiblasters on the sides. His weapons - a black and brown reaper launcher and a scorpion chainsword - rested against the throne's side. His face was pale and battle-scarred.

"Who are you and what are you doing on _my _throne?" he asked heatedly. Then he noticed what the stranger was holding in his hands: a glass of foul smelling liquid the Imperials called amasec. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Amasec that I stole from an Imperial outpost on Medusa V," the stranger replied, clearly not paying attention to Fetalque. He took a sip, savoring the taste. "Not as good as what you drink here on board, but good nonetheless. What took you so long, Autarch? I contacted you ages ago."

"You have yet to answer me. Who are you?" Somehow the armor color of the stranger was familiar to him, but he could not place his finger on it.

The stranger put down his class on the armrest. "I was once an admiral in the fleet of the Craftworld Zahr-Tann. I was respected and everyone said I had the potential to become a great leader. That is until I was disgraced..." He trailed off, staring at the floor, remembering something bad from his past. "I led a part of the fleet against a massive Imperial fleet that was going to eventually stumble upon our craftworld. My mission was eventually a success, but only a third of the fleet got back to Zahr-Tann. I expected praise, but what I got was loathing." His voice took an angrier tone. "They claimed I had left the craftworld open to attack when half of its fleet was gone, even if I had saved it! They said I was unworthy of my title. And so, they cast me out and I became a corsair."

"So that is why you felt so familiar! You are Aluhrial Juriane. I have heard you in the past. I would consider this an honor if not for the circumstances." Fetalque's facial expression hardened behind his helmet. "Are you here to commandeer my vessel?"

"Of course not, Autarch," denied Aluhrial, finally sitting up properly. "I would never do that after having to go through all that trouble to be allowed here with my corsairs. The lady autarch was kind enough to let us on board, and I am not one to squander such opportunities."

"Lady autarch? My sister, Elarique?" asked Fetalque. He couldn't understand why his sister would get involved with corsairs like Aluhrial. "But how? She died on Medusa, taking the foul Ygethmor with her as she did. When did she let you aboard this vessel?"

"Right before charging into the horde of Chaos warriors. She said my corsairs and I would allowed aboard the _Sword of Vaul _as a reward for providing her with much needed air support. I managed to snatch her spirit stone from her body before the warhost retreated completely." He reached into a small bag on his hip and produced a small oval shaped gem - the spirit stone containing the soul of Elarique Swiftblade within it. He handed it to Fetalque who took it with shaking hands.

"Elarique," whispered Fetalque, holding the spirit stone close to his face to inspect it. He could somehow feel the presence of his sister calling out to him, telling him everything was alright. "I thank you, Aluhrial. I had thought I would never be able to recover my sister's soul."

"It was nothing, Fetalque. This is the least I can do for you and her." Aluhrial rose from the throne to stand next to Fetalque. "Maybe you can incorporate the stone in your sword, just like the Dire Avenger exarchs do to make direswords. You would be able to fight alongside your sister once again."

Fetalque looked at Aluhrial and then back at the spirit stone. "You think she would want that?" The spirit stone started to pulse faintly with warm radiance, catching him off-guard. "Sister?"

"I think she agrees," said Aluhrial, observing the glow of the spirit stone.

"Lord Autarch!" shouted a crewman suddenly. "We have detected a fleet of those pyramid-shaped ships moving in from the outer solar system. We believe they are heading to the planet we orbited before."

"What? Another fleet? Follow them, but make sure they do not detect us! Keep the holofields up at all times!" ordered Fetalque, and the crew began to issue commands to the _Sword of Vaul_. Fetalque pushed Aluhrial aside gently to sit on his throne. "Corsair Aluhrial, how big is your crew? Your assistance might be required."

"I have two Phoenixes and forty corsairs under my command. The rest left the Medusa system at my command." Aluhrial picked up his weapons and turned to face the viewscreen. There were at least fifteen of those pyramid-shaped starships, all colored in gold and black like the last ones.

"You can go to your men now, Aluhrial, if you want."

The corsair prince smiled at him and grabbed his helmet. He put it on and rushed off, jumping down the stairs. He stopped for a moment to look at Fetalque who watched him from his throne before the doors closed.

"Holofields online, Autarch," announced another crewman. "Beginning approach."

The psychic radiation of the wraithbone core was getting stronger, a clear sign of the ship's movement. It was starting to sail closer to the fleet, keeping its distance from them to avoid detection.

Fetalque glanced at the spirit stone in his hands, admiring its soft and warm glow. He formed a fist around the stone, promising to make his sister proud of him once again.

He smiled at the thought, while feeling Elarique's voice call out to him.

* * *

"We are approaching Delmak, my lord," said a no-name jaffa in normal grey armor. He was standing in front of the Ha'tak's command console, keeping track of the ship's distance to its intended target. "We will be there in a moment."

"Excellent," said a man who sat on a throne made of gold and silver. He was bald and had a small beard. He was wearing a golden jaffa armor, on his right hand was a Goa'uld hand device, and a white silk cloak was draped around his shoulders. Unlike some other arrogant goa'uld System Lords, he wasn't surrounded by slaves or servants but by a four jaffa guards wearing black armor and a helmet that resembled a bird.

"Order the rest of the fleet to advance and target the Ha'taks in orbit. We cannot allow interference," he said, and the jaffa complied without a word. "I will not accept defeat this day. Sokar told me his experiments would be almost ready to aid me in defeating Apophis and taking over his territory. And if what my spies said is true, then Sokar has been overthrown. Be prepared for resistance."

"My lord, what experiments do you speak of?" asked a guard on his left.

"He said he could finally create an army of monsters all under my command. Then I could march from victory to another until the whole galaxy was mine!"

The jaffa nodded. It was really no surprise that a goa'uld System Lord wanted even more power for himself, and the jaffa were honored to be his warriors in this conquest.

Through the window of the pel'tak, the goa'uld saw Delmak becoming larger and larger by the moment; the eve of his victory was at hand, and he would succeed with or without Sokar. The fleet orbiting Delmak was small; probably only nine Ha'taks, but there would be more on the surface, ready to reinforce the active fleet with their numbers. No matter; they would still fall against his might.

In his arrogance, he ignored the blasted wrecks of three Ha'taks and innumerable Death Gliders near Ne'tu, thinking them to be results of some ages old engagement.

This planet would be his; be it now or in the future, it would be his. With this thought in mind the goa'uld ordered the fleet to attack.

The time of Heru'ur would come.

* * *

Jack rolled uncomfortably around his bed; his peaceful dreams of fishing at his cabin had transformed dramatically.

_What had once been his cabin and pond was now a raging sea filled with sickly green water. Great fireballs shot up from the water once in a while, exploding spectacularly in the air and raining down red substance. The ground under Jack had vanished, leaving only a small rocky patch of land behind. The skies burned with weird blue fires, making it seem like the place was uninhabitable. High-pitched screams echoed from the distant lands, unseen from his position._

_"Where am I?" Jack asked._

_"You have come..." whispered a voice from behind him._

_Jack turned around, alarmed, but found nothing save for more of this endless sea. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, realizing his left eye was back where it was supposed to be._

_"I am pleased you have come here so quickly..." the voice spoke again. It sounded female, but somehow hollow, ghostly. Still there was no one to be seen. "Come, Jonathan O'Neill..."_

_Suddenly a long, sandy land bridge rose from the sea, making him a path that disappeared beyond the horizon. Seeing no other choice, Jack started to walk. He noted how the water splashed against the sand, leaving behind ugly, green glow. Maybe it was his imagination, but he thought he saw rotten corpses floating in the sea._

_"Come, Jonathan..." This time the voice was coming from behind him._

_"Who's there?" asked Jack and turned around to see - nothing, again. "This is getting annoying." But when he turned back forward he came face-to-face with someone he never expected. "Carter?"_

_Before him stood Captain Samantha Carter in her SG-1 uniform, but the clothes seemed old and worn out, as if they were about to fall apart. Something was off about her, namely the pale color of her skin and lifeless, black eyes. She held her hands behind her back, grinning at him and his confused expression. Her teeth were black, rotten._

_"Welcome," she said, taking a step backwards. Something about her stance made Jack cautious; maybe it was because she kept her hands behind her back or maybe it was her grin or maybe it was her appearance. "I have been expecting you for ages, and you finally arrived to see me..."_

_"Carter, what the hell are you doing here? Where am I?"_

_Sam began to walk backwards, and Jack followed her, trying to keep up. Sam's grin widened even more, and now it seemed like she couldn't grin any wider. "We are in your dreams. Here the powers you can wield very soon are manifest. Look around, little human. I can gift you power, any power you want..."_

_Jack was taken aback for a moment, before slowly nodding. He should have expected something like this when he made a deal with a voice in his head._

_He looked around, seeing the sea still raging and the fireballs still rising; he saw the skies still burning with mystical fires and heard the screams still echoing from the distance. He felt the sand under his feet get wet as a wave washed over it, leaving behind ugly, green blobs that burned his feet. Ignoring the pain, he focused on Sam again._

_"Which power do you choose, Jonathan?" asked Sam, tilting her head to the side in anticipation. "There are four of which you can choose. Any of them could be yours to command. You could accomplish so much with them..."_

_"Just get to the point. I'll judge what I can do when I hear it."_

_"Do you want the power to rip your enemies apart with your bare hands and fill your allies with unseen bloodlust? Or would you like to have the power to fell your enemies with plagues and diseases at your command, while your immortal body shrugs off any punishment? Or maybe to cast great storms of thunder and lightning, and incinerate your foes with a wave of your hand? Or the power to break the will of even the strongest warrior, while turning entire armies against themselves with but a whisper?"_

_"I... Uh, I... Umm..." Jack stuttered, shocked by the information. He didn't know which one he should choose at all. They all sounded quite amazing. Yet amazing or not, they still sounded evil, like something a goa'uld would accept without hesitation._

_"Oh, you don't have to choose now," said Sam, grinning wickedly again. "You can do it later on..."_

_"Who are you anyways?"_

_"Just an apparition of the powers you can wield in the future. I simply took the form of your teammate to make sure you listened to me..." She finally took her hands from behind her back and caressed Jack's face with long, clawed fingers. She dragged her claws against his cheek, leaving behind bleeding cuts. "Don't worry; all shall be revealed to you in time..."_

_Jack felt himself fly backwards, hurled across the dream world by an invisible force. He saw Sam's apparition disappear as he hit the water, sinking under the black waves like a stone. He felt himself drown as the polluted water filled his lungs. He tried to swim to the surface, but couldn't._

_"_Aaargh!" screamed Jack, jolting up from his bed. He was back in the infirmary; his dream had ended when he drowned, but it felt so real, as if all it had been true. He brought a hand to his left eye socket and felt it empty again.

"I guess it was just a dream... or was it?"

* * *

**And cut! Thank you for reading!**

**Yes, Jack will take up the offer for one of the four Chaos powers. Which one you may ask? Well, its up to you! Go to my profile and then vote in the poll on which power he takes up. The choice will affect him and his actions, as well as the story and the others around him.**

**So, how do you like fact that Fetalque got back the soul of his sister? What about Aluhrial? What about Janet going to Delmak? The explanation is a bit crappy, but it works for now. And what about Fetalque's possible romance?**

**That's all for this time, the next chapter will be out some time during the summer when I finish it.**

**Till then, bye!**


	5. Heru'ur Attacks

**Welcome again, folks!**

**_CodyAHM_: Thanks. Mon-keigh means inferior species, actually, if that's what you meant.**

**_Infinite Freedom_: Well, I knew people would object if Jack was the one to fall to Chaos influence, but I can't please everybody at once. At least he won't fall that easily or fast. And please keep in mind that Chaos can corrupt anyone... well almost.**

**_stwar_: Jack will be powerful no matter what power he has.**

**_Malcho1234_: Thank you!**

**_starspawn07_: Yes, your suggestion will be put to use, but the Ancients, though... I can only say that they and Jack will have a connection, but not on the genetic level. About the daemon prince: I'm thinking more about letting him remain a human with possible mutations.**

**Trife: Yes, Aluhrial will play an important role in battles to come. Heru'ur's attack will definitely be halted by the eldar - due to reasons of their own, mind you, they don't trust the jaffa or the humans.**

**_simply Eric_: Maybe he seems like that, but the opinion of the people decides through the poll.**

**_Leafy8765_: Yes, I do remember that, but we won't be seeing that any time soon if at all. Would be kinda stupid to go sacrificing planets for no good reason, considering the only living eldar are aboard the Void Stalker.**

**_Dusel_: Who said the Chaos had no power or millions of followers, or that they can't spread their influence (well the influence is REALLY limited)? The Chaos surrogates are many and powerful, but we won't be seeing them any time soon. I guess. We'll see!**

**_Lunatic Pandora1_: I don't know about the multiplayer: I have always hated it in every game, unless its split screen with a friend.**

**More cameos coming in this chapter from World in Conflict! You won't probably see them after the next chapter, apart from brief appearances in the future.**

**Well, without further ado, here's the next chapter!**

* * *

**Heru'ur Attacks**

Ro'nak felt something was amiss as he stepped into the throne room of Sokar.

Even though the Sokar's corpse had been dragged away and destroyed long time ago, he felt something bad was about to happen. He had felt the same many times before, right before a warning vision appeared. This time, though, there was no vision - at least not yet.

"Ro'nak! Old friend, over here!" yelled Voc'ron enthusiastically from his position in front of the obsidian throne. He was a bit roughed up, but seemed otherwise alright. His dark red jaffa armor was torn and damaged from various places, and now lay on the ground beside him. Without his armor, Voc'ron wore a plain black shirt and baggy, grey trousers of a peasant.

"Voc'ron!" yelled Ro'nak, rushing across the room to his friend, jumping over various pieces of debris. "I'm so glad to see you!"

Voc'ron stood up as Ro'nak stopped in front of him, and they both smiled happily. A reunion of friends had finally come. Laughing, they hugged, happy to see each other alive.

"So you survived, you old fox?" asked Ro'nak as they stopped hugging. He remembered the times when Voc'ron had supposedly died during a battle and had appeared a moment later, alive like nothing had happened. And here he was again, alive and well.

"Don't I always, Ro'nak?" replied Voc'ron. He was smiling, remembering the same as Ro'nak. "This time it was closer than ever."

Ro'nak looked around the room in confusion, remembering something important. "Where are the Tok'ra? I was told they were with you." He was still trying to figure out how the Tok'ra had sent a representative so fast.

"They are down there," he said, pointing at the opening in the wall on the side of the throne room. "I let them search the place with a group of jaffa."

"What is down there, anyways?"

"A catacomb. Sokar's experimentation chamber is there somewhere. It leads somewhere else, too, but we do not know where yet. You might want to see it yourself."

"Maybe later, Voc'ron," replied Ro'nak, looking at the large opening in the wall. "We should wait for the Tau'ri first. If there are more of Sokar's experiments down there, they can be a great help."

Voc'ron glanced over Ro'nak's shoulder to see if anyone was coming yet. "Are you sure they know the way here?"

As if on cue, the group entered the room, heading towards them.

"You were saying?" asked Ro'nak with a sly grin.

"Never mind," replied Voc'ron dismissively. "I'll leave you with the Tau'ri. I'm going to join the search party downstairs." With that said, Voc'ron walked past Ro'nak, stepped through the opening in the wall and disappeared into the darkness.

"So you found your way here at last," said Ro'nak, turning around to greet the humans. "I was afraid you'd get yourselves lost on the way here. After all, you came here only once before. You remembered the way surprisingly well."

"Excuse me, Ro'nak, but where are Martouf and Jacob?" asked the other female member of the Tau'ri group. What was her name again? Janet, or something similar maybe? Who did she mean anyway? "The Tok'ra who came with the previous team," she clarified, seeing Ro'nak's confused look.

"Ah, they are down there," he replied, pointing his hand at the entrance to Sokar's chamber. "Ask Voc'ron, he knows where they are."

"How do I recognize him?"

"Look for a man in peasant's clothes," he explained. "He should be easy to find."

All he got in response was a blank stare from the group, so he sighed. Of course they didn't know what kind of clothes a peasant of Delmak would wear.

"Just look for a jaffa without his armor. He shouldn't be that hard to find."

The woman nodded and broke apart of the group, heading towards the opening.

"One more thing! It might be dark in there, so you'd better be careful!" he yelled after her as she disappeared. He wasn't sure if she heard, but it didn't matter that much. Ro'nak turned back to the Tau'ri group. "So, what brings you all here in such numbers, my friends?" he asked with a tilt of his head. He wasn't informed why the additional men where there.

"Well, General Hammond thought that some backup wouldn't be bad," replied Doctor Jackson, gesturing at the four armed men behind him. "And considering that we're going to allies soon, we came here to help until you can take care of the planet on your own."

"Thank you, Doctor Jacks-" Ro'nak's reply was cut short by a bright flash of light which engulfed him utterly.

_When Ro'nak could see again, he found himself floating in emptiness with no ground under his feet. Wherever he looked he saw nothing but darkness that threatened to swallow him. He hadn't expected this to happen at a moment like this and thus hadn't prepared for it, but he had waited for it a long time now. Ro'nak sighed, knowing what was going on: he was having another vision._

_"It is still alive," a quiet voice called from the darkness, startling Ro'nak. "The devil may be gone, but The Beast still lives underneath, trapped there long before Sokar defiled this place. You must not allow it to leave this place or else everything is lost!"_

_Ro'nak was surrounded by a halo of light that shone brightly and vanquished the darkness._

_As the darkness receded, a plain metal room appeared. Its walls were stained with dry blood and rust covered every surface. Skeletal corpses lay all around, torn apart or simply smashed to death, covered in dried up blood. The bodies all wore similar outfits: simple white canvas vests, leather boots and patched up trousers. They didn't seem to be experienced fighters, or fighters in the first place - more like farmers of Ro'nak's home world._

_A loud sound of tearing metal turned Ro'nak's attention to a large metal hatch on the ceiling above him. The heavy, rusty steel hatch came off, squashing a body under its weight as it landed, scattering dust and bone particles all about. There were people moving up there, searching the place. But that wasn't what concerned Ro'nak; what did concern him was that something was moving behind a bolted door behind him, its resounding footsteps and low growling echoing all the way to Ro'nak's ears._

Then the world lost focus again, signaling the end of the vision, and Ro'nak found himself back in the throne room, lying on ground on his back and breathing hard.

"Are you OK?" asked Captain Carter, standing over him with a look of concern on her face. "Do you feel sick or something?"

Ro'nak stood up fast, pushing back the Tau'ri who had gathered around him. He panted, looking around for the opening in the wall, and was about to run when a jaffa came running through the doorway, nearly stumbling on the pieces of the shattered door.

"Lord Ro'nak! A large goa'uld fleet is heading towards us! They have already destroyed over half of the active fleet in orbit!" he explained frantically. "The invader has identified himself as Heru'ur!"

Ro'nak's eyes widened in shock. This was seriously bad news for him and Delmak; the planet still hadn't recovered from the end of Sokar's reign, and a large invasion fleet couldn't have come at a worse time. Knowing Heru'ur and his reputation for having large fleets, Ro'nak knew Delmak had no chance to survive. Unless... unless the mysterious alien vessel appeared again! But that was only wishful thinking.

"Heru'ur?" asked Doctor Jackson with clear interest for the name in his voice. "The son of Ra and Hathor? The same Heru'ur?"

"Yes, Doctor Jackson, the very same," said Ro'nak. "He must have had something to do with Sokar, otherwise he wouldn't dare come in-system at all, at least not personally to lead an invasion force of this size."

"This... Heru'ur. Is he a powerful goa'uld?" asked Captain Carter.

"Yes. He has the largest fleet of all goa'uld System Lords." Ro'nak thought about the situation for a moment. "Jaffa, I want you to gather all the available forces and prepare to defend the fortress. Evacuate the civilians to the countryside where Heru'ur's jaffa are less likely to find them. Now go!"

The jaffa bowed and left without a word. He ran through the doorway and disappeared into the corridor, his previous exhaustion forgotten.

"We'll go too, Captain Carter," said a Tau'ri who seemed to be in his forties or fifties. "It's finally time to kick some snake butts." He hefted his strange Tau'ri weapon eagerly.

"Stay safe, Colonel," said Captain Carter, and the four men rushed outside with their weapons ready for action.

When the Tau'ri exited the room, Teal'c decided to ask something Ro'nak had expected for a while now. "Ro'nak, what did the vision tell you this time?" he asked, as calm as always.

Ro'nak grinned. "I knew you would be the one to ask that." His expression became concerned. "We are not alone in this fortress. There is something evil lurking in the tunnels underneath. We must hurry!" He sprinted past the Tau'ri group - even Teal'c had raised an eyebrow - and in from the opening, vanishing into the dark corridors beyond, not even caring to check if the others were following behind him or not.

His only hope was that the beast could be stopped before it was released.

* * *

Deep within the _Sword of Vaul _in a large dimly lit chamber, thirty-six figures stood in a circle with their arms crossed in front of their chests. They all wore red body armor with a broad, black backpack and a white helmet with spider symbols on the forehead. In center of the great circle, a warrior similar to the others sat cross-legged. He had no helmet and he kept his eyes closed in deep concentration as the ritual went on.

"It is time, Salahkae," spoke one of the figures in the circle. "Rise. Rise and take up the mantle of the Void Weaver!"

The warrior in the middle, Salahkae, rose to his feet slowly, opening his eyes to look at his brethren. He took a deep breath as a fellow exarch stepped forth from the circle with a helmet in his hands. The helmet was not like any other helmet worn by the other Warp Spiders in the chamber. This one was as black as the void and had no symbol of spider on its forehead since small blade-like decorations were built into its sides to form a distinctive spider shape, and the normally red eyepieces were green.

The exarch - Alartyl was his name - stopped his ceremonially slow approach and handed over the helmet of the Void Weaver.

Salahkae took it hesitantly, still feeling this was but a dream, and held it in front of his face, memorizing every detail of it. He noticed every Aspect Warrior in the room form three rows, twelve in each one. They were waiting for him and his first orders as the Void Weaver.

He donned the helmet, letting himself be lost in the moment for now.

"Warp Spiders," he said after a long silence, ready to issue his first command as the Void Weaver. "Prepare to mobilize as per the autarch's instructions. Make sure you are ready for the coming battle."

Every Aspect Warrior in the room disappeared in a flash of light the instant he stopped talking. Salahkae smiled under his helmet; he knew that while he wasn't as experienced as his fellow exarchs but he could still lead his warriors with skill.

Not a moment later he, too, teleported away from the chamber.

* * *

Near the capital city of Delmak, in the countryside where farmers used to farm vegetables for the city, Heru'ur's army was gathering for the attack on the city.

Hundreds of jaffa, dozens of staff cannon teams and Death Gliders as air support; all was ready for the assault on the citadel. Overhead, Tel'taks brought more and more jaffa and weapons to the surface to reinforce the already formidable army.

Heru'ur was confident they were enough to breach the walls of the fortress and conquer it with ease, and when that happened he would seek out Sokar's chamber and look for his experiments.

"My lord, the jaffa are ready to initiate the attack," said a Horus Guard. He stood before Heru'ur, his head bowed.

"Excellent! Order them to attack immediately; we have no time to waste until some other System Lord hears of Sokar's fall and tries to attack."

"Your will be done, my lord," said the jaffa, kneeling down before leaving to do as his god willed.

Heru'ur watched him leave with a smirk. He knew that whoever had taken Sokar's place was no match for him and his army. The enemy army was in disarray, still recovering from the news of Sokar's death, and their morale was low due to the surprise attack. They were already broken, and his army was merely cleaning up the planet.

The jaffa army began to march onward as the Horus Guard spread the word; jaffa marched in large battle formations, staff cannons were moved alongside them and Death Gliders took off to perform their role as air support. Heru'ur quickly found his lieutenant among first line, his black armor unmistakable among the sea of dull grey armor. Heru'ur had chosen him to lead the army to victory.

Heru'ur took a look at the fortress in the distance. He could envision the city burning, its defenders lying on the ground dead, and the fortress and its secrets in his possession. Then, when all opposition was gone, he would free his master from the prison he had slumbered in for so long.

When he was free, nothing would stand in his way!

Heru'ur let his smirk widen, thinking of all the power his master would gift him when he was free.

The battle started in the distance; explosions and weapon fire filled the air with screams of the dying. This battle was practically already over - and in his favor, too.

Yes, soon his master would be free.

And then, the galaxy would drown in blood.

* * *

Colonel Jeremiah Sawyer, once a retired officer of the US Army, kept firing his M16 at the oncoming enemy force, blasting jaffa off their feet with well placed shots.

He had served in the Army until few years ago when he had retired to his cabin in Washington. A few days ago he got a call from General Hammond of the US Air Force, telling him to pack his things and get to the nearest airport for an important task. At first he had declined, but when Hammond had told him it was a matter of utmost urgency and national security and told him the President himself had signed the order, he had done as told. Arriving at the airport, he was surprised to see his former subordinates: First Lieutenant Parker (whose first name still escaped him), Captain Mark Bannon and Captain James Webb. Boarding the plane, they were told about the Stargate, aliens and how they were needed to defend Earth.

And so, here he was, shooting at the enemy army with his teammates. They were making their stand at the top of the massive front gate's of the fortress with Ro'nak's own jaffa at their side.

"Sir, do you think we can actually make it?" asked Bannon annoyingly. "I mean, can we really shoot all these guys?"

"Yes, we can! Now shut up, captain!" Sawyer said irritably, felling another jaffa with a shot to the face.

The captain sighed and went back to killing the enemy, taking aim with his M4 and unleashing hell. He blasted through the chainmail armor worn by the jaffa, killing them in rows. Sawyer still didn't understand how weak body armor the aliens could have: he had always thought that aliens would have some high-tech body armor that was immune to all weapons fire. Maybe these jaffa and goa'uld weren't as advanced as Hammond had told him.

More enemies fell under the constant hail of staff blasts and bullets that smashed into the jaffa like: bullets from Parker's P90 pierced both the armor and the jaffa with ease; Webb's MP-5 spat certain death to every jaffa who was unlucky enough to get hit; Bannon's M4 killed foes like flies; accurate fire from Sawyer's M16 picked off jaffa after another in a shower of hot lead; and the staff weapons of the friendly jaffa blasted enemies off their feet with concentrated burst of energy. All seemed easy, until...

"Incoming!" yelled Webb, ducking behind the stone barricade as an aircraft came into the view from the distance. It was a Death Glider Hammond had told them about; it swooped down from the sky, staff cannons blazing, forcing the whole defense line to duck lest they perished.

Sawyer cursed as explosions rocked the defense line. There must have been more than one Death Glider out there for them to shoot this much. He allowed himself to sneak a peek over the stony barricade that had been hastily formed on the top of the gates to cover the defenders who couldn't fit inside the gatehouse. His eyes widened when he saw the size of the attacking force: there were probably over a hundred Gliders flying towards the fortress with ground troops advancing under their covering fire.

This was bad, really bad.

"Colonel Sawyer!" called Parker from his position a few meters from Sawyer. "We can't hold out much longer against this onslaught!"

"I know!" Sawyer yelled back just as another wing of Death Gliders flew by, blasting chunks off the wall. "Everyone! Fall back to the fortress now! We have better chances of fighting them there! Move it!"

As one the defense line began to retreat as yet another Glider wing bombarded the gates. Sawyer didn't know if the retreat was really planned or organized or if it just looked like it because everybody was running in the same direction.

Not noticing the defenders leave, the enemy continued to pound the gates.

Regrouping with his teammates, who stood among the mass of regrouping jaffa, Sawyer thought the situation over. He knew it was pointless to wait for the jaffa to blow the gates open; he knew it was futile to make a stand in the courtyard; he knew it was stupid stay in the courtyard in the first place. Everyone needed to get indoors to better prepare for the attack.

"Colonel Sawyer! Gliders incoming!" yelled Parker, pointing at the sky where another wing of Gliders was coming for another strafing run.

"Fall back! Everyone inside! Now!" ordered Sawyer, and everybody obeyed just as the Gliders began to bombard the courtyard with their cannons. As the front doors closed, a gigantic explosion rocked the gates and scattered debris everywhere. One didn't need to be a rocket scientist to know the gates had been blown open.

Silence reigned inside the fortress' entrance hall as every jaffa and human knew what was to be expected. No one dared speak a word. Outside the doors the enemy gathered for a final assault.

Sawyer approached a jaffa who sat on a small stone on the side of the room, intending to ask something important. "Do you know the way to the throne room?" he asked.

"Yes," the jaffa answered, confused. "But why do you ask? Do we not have more immediate problems?"

"We do," replied Sawyer simply, noticing in the passing that the others in the hall had moved in closer to the two to hear them better. "But the enemy will eventually go to the throne room to claim it. If we wait there and ambush them as soon as they come there, we will have better chances of facing them all. And since the door is gone we can see them long before they even enter, effectively leaving them at disadvantage."

"Don't forget that the Gliders can't shoot us if we are inside, sir," reminded Bannon.

"Thank you, Captain, I think I can remember that on my own. As I was about to say before I was interrupted..." Sawyer shot Bannon an annoyed look before continuing. "If we hold up in the throne room, we force the enemy to come in from one direction, a corridor that is not so big, which means they can't come in in large numbers, and that gives us a better chance of beating them."

The jaffa nodded his head, understanding the plan. "Yes, that might actually work. You have a great tactical mind - a truly great gift indeed."

"Thanks, buddy, but..." Sawyer looked over his shoulder at the door. "There's no telling how long it takes them to break through the door and get here."

"We should get going, sir," said Webb, whilst Parker stood next to him silently.

The enemy jaffa outside started to bang on the door, trying to force it open.

The jaffa nodded and gestured the other jaffa to go ahead. "Follow us," he said. "It won't take long to get to the throne room." With that said, he turned around and followed his comrades with the humans right behind him.

Looking behind his back one last time, Sawyer could have sworn he saw a figure appear where he had stood.

Maybe hope was not lost after all.

* * *

A Death Glider swooped from the sky upon a crowd of helpless jaffa who were trying to escort a crowd of humans away from the city and into the countryside on the opposite side of the city as Heru'ur's army, blasting numerous foes off their feet with its staff cannons.

The pilot of the Death Glider and his co-pilot, who sat on the higher seat behind him, had been given direct orders to kill every jaffa and human in sight. To them and the other Death Glider pilots the plan was easy: "kill everyone on the ground and provide air support if needed" was the order they were given. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Ah, how I have longed for this!" exclaimed the co-pilot as he unleashed more and more shots upon those underneath. "There is nothing easier than mowing down helpless enemies. Bah, these cowards are easier than those humans we faced a season ago!"

The pilot could only agree with his associate.

"Wait! What was that?" came a frantic voice over the radio. It was the pilot of another Death Glider in the wing, one of fifteen. "I think something just flew past me. Did anyone else see it?"

"What are you mumbling about?" asked the pilot of Death Glider Six. "There was nothing! You are only paranoid!"

"If you say so..." There was a moment of silence before the pilot spoke again, panicking. "There it was again! It moved so fast!"

The pilot decided to intervene before the other pilot worried the others of the Death Glider wing; after all, he was the leader. "Death Glider Eight, what is your position?" he asked as they ascended above the clouds after their successful strafing run.

"We are right behind you all."

The pilot dared himself to quickly look backwards from the cockpit window, trying to see if Death Glider Eight was really out there.

It was.

Death Glider Eight flew out of the cloud behind everyone else, going at a slightly slower pace, which was probably the result of the pilot's nervousness.

"There is no one out here, Eight," laughed the pilot of Death Glider Three from above One. "You are just paranoid and-"

Eight's pilot screamed again in fear, clearly having seen something again. "There it is! There it is! Shoot it down! Shoot-"

Eight's screaming was cut off by an explosion that sent flaming pieces of a Death Glider scattering across the sky. It only took a moment for everybody to realize Eight had been blown out of the sky. Maybe his paranoia wasn't as unfounded as they had thought.

Unfortunately, before any actions could be taken, a beam of light pierced Death Glider Two's cockpit and went straight through its hull, scattering debris all about as it exploded in a brilliant fireball.

"Evasive maneuvers!" the pilot of One screamed into the comm just as Death Glider Seven was shot down by what seemed like a mass of flickering lights.

Another beam severed Death Glider Nine's right wing from the hull and sent the helpless jaffa within plummeting down to their doom.

Death Glider One veered to the left as a large projectile of some sort blew Death Glider Four apart. The pilot knew he couldn't survive if this kept going. This unseen assailant was truly effective and frightening; being able to destroy a whole wing of Death Gliders with breathless ease was no small feat.

"I think I can see it!" said the co-pilot just as Death Glider Fifteen blew apart next to them and something really fast flew past them. "Curses! It is too fast!"

"We need to get away!" the pilot shouted, steering the Death Glider to a sharp dive, hoping to get close to the ground to perform a controlled crash landing. He could still hear how a Death Glider after a Death Glider exploded to smithereens high above him.

"Korra! What in the name of our god are you doing! When he finds out, your life will be forfeit, and I cannot help you!" his co-pilot screamed. Korra had never bothered to learn his name. "Pull up now or face the consequences!"

For a moment the pilot, Korra, actually thought about pulling the Death Glider up from the dive to destroy the unseen opponent. But he knew it would have been pointless and stupid; he would have been annihilated like the others before him. So, doing what he knew was for the best, he kept on going, adjusting the trajectory slightly to avoid being crushed on impact.

"Korra, you fool! You shall die for this! I swear i-"

The co-pilot's angry threats were silenced by an explosion on the Death Glider's side that destroyed the left wing, sending the Glider spiraling downward. Korra tried in vain to correct the trajectory, but the Glider was beyond controlling now, and he knew it. He glanced to the side and saw something disappear behind another dark cloud that filled the sky; their attacker was fast enough to shoot down a Death Glider and still have time to get away. Their assailants were skilled, very skilled.

"Korra!"

As the co-pilot's shout faded into nothingness, the Glider hit ground at an angle and slid across a small field while chunks of the hull broke off. The Glider hit a rock, jolted upward and cartwheeled forward numerous times, breaking off what was left of its wings and engine in the process.

The Glider hit a patch of thick trees and stopped almost instantly, scattering debris all over the grassy field.

* * *

Corsair prince Aluhrial Juriane watched the enemy army from high atop the citadel.

He had come to the planetside in one of the first Wave Serpents, taking Autarch Fetalque's place as the commander of the warhost, letting the autarch concentrate on the matters in the orbit. The enemy fleet was quite big, but if every ship in it was one of those pyramid ship, then the battle was already over.

"The warhost is ready to engage the enemy at your command. They will mobilize as per their instructions."

Aluhrial turned sideways to see the speaker, Farseer Aldreth. "Thank you, Farseer," he said. "I still wonder why you of all the eldar on board the _Sword of Vaul _are the one who trusts me the most. Why is that, Honored Farseer?"

Aldreth chuckled. "Autarch Swiftblade is still young; he has much to learn."

"That is not the answer I was looking for."

"I've heard of your deeds before your exile, and I must say I am impressed. Not many can organize such a successful assault you pulled against the Chaos filth and their daemonic allies."

"The victory was not thanks to me alone, Farseer," said Aluhrial, turning to fully face her. "That risky tactic would have never worked if not for Autarch Oltherier and his strike force. It was their diversion that allowed me to lead my warhost to victory."

Aldreth chuckled again as she turned her back to him. "Maybe, but it was you who came up with the plan." Aldreth glanced over her shoulder and uttered, "I expect you to lead this warhost to victory without any difficulty." A flash of light later, she was gone.

Aluhrial sighed, folding his arms across his chest as he took one last look over the edge.

Down below the enemy finally broke through the front door of the fortress with a combined shot of five heavy weapon platforms. These vermin were now swarming inside in a seemingly never-ending tide of humanoid figures. Soon it was time to spring the trap and cut down these filthy _mon-keigh _once and for all, so they would never threaten this world again.

Aluhrial caught a trail of fire in the sky not so far away, just outside the city limits; his visor zoomed in on it enough to reveal it to be an enemy fighter, one of those strange flyers that vaguely resembled necron Shrouds. It crashed into the plains outside the city and vanished from his sight, but he didn't need to see it to know it was done for. It seemed the Phoenixes he had sent were doing their job well - as expected.

"Prince Juriane," said one of his corsairs as he approached him. "The Warp Spiders wish to inform that they are ready to commence with attack inside the fortress. They await your command, my lord."

"Thank you," replied Aluhrial, turning to face the corsair. "You are dismissed. Join your squad and prepare for battle. Follow the plan as instructed."

"Yes, my lord," said the corsair, bowing, and left rooftop by jumping down a hole the eldar had made when they first arrived on the planet. The rangers did a good job blowing the hole in case the eldar needed to return; their foresight was commendable.

Aluhrial activated his comm-feed with a mental command, picked up his reaper launcher and announced, "And now, we join the fray!" He hefted his bulky reaper launcher and aimed down at the enemy, his finger pressing the trigger ever so slightly. He waited with bated breath for the right moment to fire and cause the most damage to enemy morale. "_Mael dannan _to the enemy! Attack!"

Sounds of explosions and screams of dying filled the air as the eldar began their attack. Aluhrial saw a massive storm form above - no doubt there by the will of seers aboard the orbiting _Sword of Vaul._ From its eye, a massive bolt of lightning raced towards the ground, throwing dozens of enemies off their feet. Another lightning bolt struck a heavy weapon team and blew the gun up in a bright fireball, incinerating its operators.

Aluhrial's visor detected rangers on many of the balconies below, picking off targets with accurate fire of their rifles. He also saw Vypers and Fire Prisms systematically destroying their enemies with ease outside the fortress' walls. He smirked, his visor zooming in on an enemy who wore a black armor as opposed to the dull grey of the others.

Alurial pulled the trigger and unleashed a torrent of mini rockets towards his target, missing on purpose. He watched with satisfaction as the rockets hit the ground a meter or two in front of the leader in a series of small explosions. The leader jumped back in shock and fear, knowing that the shot might have taken his life with ease, and, as expected, cowered in fear, fleeing for the gates to be safe.

There was no escape for one such as him.

With a wide smile on his face, Aluhrial turned around, grabbed his chainsword from its sheath at his hip and dropped down the hole to the fortress itself.

He had a warhost to lead.

* * *

Jaffa commander Herak ran out of the courtyard, pushing through the crowd of jaffa warriors as they rushed in from the open front gates.

He was a man of average build and size and had a short blond hair. He had served Heru'ur faithfully for decades, fulfilling whatever his god wished him to, and not even when his own life was threatened was he going to betray him. Herak was going to report this interference to Heru'ur, and then he would crush these bugs that dared oppose him.

A bright blast threw Herak off his feet, while the jaffa caught in the epicenter of blast were obliterated.

Herak quickly stumbled up to a crouch to remain as small a target as possible. He didn't want to get blasted to bits by that damnable, blue colored enemy machine which was hovering above the ground. A large crystal was mounted at the tip of large barrel at the side of the turret attached to the top of its sleek hull. It seemed to glow, especially before unleashing another one of those deadly beams that caused all of those explosions around him.

Herak broke into sprint, keeping his head down as yet another beam flew over him and struck a staff cannon nearby, blowing it up in a brilliant flash of light followed by a fireball.

He saw a different kind of machine - this one red - descend from the sky. It was smaller and sleeker than the previous vehicle, and had a weapon as large as a staff cannon attached to the side of an open, manned turret. The machine swooped towards a group of jaffa who were trying to shoot it down with their staff weapons and opened fire with its weapon. The jaffa fell over, dead and bloodied, their armor torn from several places.

A second one appeared above the treeline. This one's weapon was longer and thinner and fired a bright beam of light that killed anyone who got struck by it. The machine hovered in place, firing at anything that moved.

Herak kept going down the street, jumping over corpses that littered the ground like garbage, and towards the staging ground in the countryside. He was lucky no jaffa was nearby anymore, otherwise they would have thought he was fleeing and killed him - jaffa commander or not, Heru'ur's jaffa were known to execute cowards during battles.

No! Herak was no coward! He was only trying to deliver news to Heru'ur, his god and lord.

Footsteps on the road alerted Herak to the presence of others in the vicinity. He turned slightly to the right, faking injury to make him seem less threatening in case it was the enemy, and saw a group of at least twenty jaffa stop next to him. They had to be late troops on their way to reinforce the assault.

"Commander Herak?" the leader of the group asked, confused. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be leading the assault?"

"We were attacked by an unknown enemy force! I came back to inform Lord Heru'ur of this new threat!"

The jaffa nodded, understanding. "Heru'ur already knows: a ship appeared in the orbit and began deploying drop ships immediately. It destroyed a mothership when it ventured too close, but has done nothing since. I have no further information on the matter, but I suggest we retreat."

Herak was about to say something, until a jaffa pointed forward and asked, "Wait, what is that?"

Slowly they all turned towards the fortress and couldn't help gasping in shock when a lone figure seemed to appear out of a blur, like it had moved too fast for them to see. But what was more striking was the figure itself.

The figure was wearing a red robe that billowed in a gentle breeze; a white helmet with a black faceplate and glaring ruby red eyes; and strange, dimly glowing armor that barely even covered his chest. He held a sword that pulsed regularly in his gloved hands, keeping it pointed towards the ground like the jaffa were not worthy of his time.

"Who are you?" Herak demanded. Next to him, the jaffa formed single line and aimed their primed staff weapons at the man. "I'll ask again. Who are-"

Before Herak could finish his question, the man vanished in a blur.

Trusting his honed battle instincts, Herak dropped to his knees, barely dodging a sword swing that would have taken his head cleanly off. The others were not so lucky, however, and they all fell to ground, their heads or limbs cut off. Herak stood up and broke into run, hoping to get away.

Unfortunately, the moment he turned around he came face-to-face with the robed killer. He instantly recoiled, stumbling on his own feet and falling to the ground. He stared, horrified, as the man took a step closer, sword held high in the air for a finishing strike.

The sword descended down upon the downed jaffa commander.

Herak quickly rolled to the side as the sword struck down. He jumped up and grabbed a staff weapon from a dead jaffa, priming and aiming it at the robed man as he freed his sword from ground. Strangely, the man sheathed the blade and reached for a holster at his hip where some kind of a thing rested.

"Die!" Herak screamed and fired. His face split into a wide smirk as the energy blasts flew through the air at the man, only for his expression to turn into one of shock and fear as the shots dissipated without even touching him.

The man grabbed object in his holster and in a lightning fast motion whipped his arm up, pointing the object at Herak. Then, he pulled the trigger, sending a hail of razor sharp discs into Herak's face.

Herak fell to the ground_, _while the mysterious man vanished in a blur once again. He stayed alive for a moment more, feeling his blood bleed from his face. He was actually happy now, knowing he had served his god to the bitter end. He knew he would join his predecessors in the great beyond where all the great warriors of ages lived eternally. He knew his almighty god would always reward the likes of his, the most courageous, cunning and strongest of all men in his service!

And so did the great jaffa commander Herak join ranks of the dead.

Just another corpse among others.

* * *

Ro'nak slammed open a heavy, rusted metal door as he ran as fast as his feet let him.

He didn't know how long he had been running down corridors and across old, dusty rooms, but he did know that he most almost where Voc'ron and his jaffa were. He wondered why these rooms looked so untouched if Sokar had his experimentation chamber down here and came here regularly. Maybe he was just lost in the complex.

Ro'nak slammed another door open, only to see something he didn't expect to see: the Tau'ri team who were supposed to follow him.

"There you are, Ro'nak!" said Captain Carter. "You shouldn't have run off like that!"

"Wha... How did you get ahead of me?" Ro'nak asked, walking to the group with confused look on his face.

Doctor Jackson took a deep breath before replying. "Actually, Ro'nak, you ran off to the wrong direction and got lost. We were worried you wouldn't find your way back here."

Ro'nak blinked a few times in confusion. "I went to the wrong way?" he asked mostly himself, before taking a look around him. True to Doctor Jackson's words, he was back in the entrance room to the damned complex. He felt like bashing his head to a brick wall in embarrassment.

"Things like that happen, Ro'nak," said Captain Carter reassuringly. "Now, could we get going already? You said there was something evil down here, and I really don't want to find some Sokar replica." Her tone was quite forceful, but she made her point perfectly clear; no one wanted another monster like Sokar or Ulkair.

The very thought of those two monster made Ro'nak flinch. He didn't want to remember the devastation Ulkair caused, or the fear inducing aura Sokar spread with his will; it was shocking he was the only one who could resist this aura of fear.

"We should hurry," said Teal'c calmly like always. "The battle outside will spread inside any moment, and we cannot waste our time waiting."

Everyone nodded and went for the door opposite the one Ro'nak had gone through and come from. He still wanted to bang his head into a wall for that embarrassing mistake that cost them all precious time. If he hadn't screwed up like that then maybe they could have already stopped the beast from escaping from its prison.

Together they pushed the metal door blocking their way open, and entered the room slowly. It was a large, empty room with an open door on the opposite side.

Wasting no time, they went through the doorway, running down the dark corridor beyond until they came into a dimly lit room. The room was very big and had no furniture or equipment of any kind anywhere. On the other side of the room was a large gate that was locked with chains, metal bars and most likely with an internal locking mechanism as well.

"Voc'ron!" yelled Ro'nak, seeing his friend and a handful jaffa standing in front of the gate, studying it. "Stop! Everyone, stop!"

That caught everybody's attention.

"Ro'nak? What are you doing here?" asked Voc'ron, walking to his friend.

"I came to warn you all! There is something evil down here, locked away long before Sokar came!" Ro'nak noticed the Tau'ri woman talking to the two Tok'ra, which made him wonder where the representative was - unless those two were assigned to be the representatives. That would make his future negotiations with the Tok'ra much easier.

Ro'nak frantically looked around as everyone came closer to hear him out; he was searching for any sign what might have caused the growling in his vision. Finding nothing, he explained what his vision told him, ignoring the strange headache that was beginning to make itself known. It was hard to concentrate while the headache continued pound in his temples, clouding his thoughts, but despite that he was able to explain what had occurred.

Then, the gates shattered.

* * *

**Oh, thank god! It's finally done!**

**The Shard of Void Weaver is from the Apocalypse book and will be seen in action in the next chapter.**

**The warlock is the one who was wrestling with the ranger, and his power is moving at insane speeds as you've seen. This was inspired by Imperial power, quickening. Herak was the First Prime of Anubis in the series, but now he's a lieutenant of Heru'ur since Anubis won't be villain (Yes, shocking, isn't it?). Anubis will most likely be the only good goa'uld, and someone will take his place as a villain.**

**Bye!**


	6. The Beast Of The Past

**Hi, everybody! Sorry for the delay, my computer broke (it's fixed now) and I had to use the laptop which was really uncomfortable.**

**_Mikers_ _I think_: Thanks, I guess. Yeah, I know my space battles lack a bit but that's mostly because of my lack of ability to describe things. Yeah, I remember the split personality thing, but to avoid describing it I'll try to portray the battles from the perspective of others, but yeah there will few conflicts among the eldar. Chaos will be an enemy that will bother us for a long time.**

**_Neodammarung_ _the Destroyer_: Brilliant questions! Well, the fate of necrons and their C'tan gods is pretty much the same as in the original version of this story. The tau, though... Ahh, let's just say that they won't make an appearance, simply because they won't really fit and I hate them for no fully explainable reason - I think it's mostly because of their Greater Good bullshit and all that other shit.**

**_WaxWings_: Thanks.**

**_Lunatic Pandora1_: Who said there were no Howling Banshees on Delmak? They weren't shown in the last chapter but in this one you'll definitely see them.**

**_starspawn07_: Well, the Tau'ri will definitely be shocked by the eldar's victory over the Beast and jaffa. At least eldar are not as bloodthirsty as orks.**

**_Trife_: Thank you! Yes, Ro'nak will organize his forces and fleet after this; would be foolish to just sit there wait for someone else to attack, wouldn't it?**

**Okay, first off I'd like to ask: Should I make a chapter where Ro'nak and SG-1 travel to his homeworld in a time of some sort of crisis? This would reveal more about Ro'nak's past and his psychic powers, and would pit them all against a daemonic enemy, although I'd have to first decide what kind of. Also, I think I'm going to replace Daniel with Jonas like in the series, because I like him more (I'll find a way). All ideas welcome.**

**Well, anyways! ****Enjoy!**_**  
**_

* * *

**The Beast Of The Past**

For a thousand years it had been imprisoned within these gates by the civilization that inhabited the planet before the goa'uld and their master came from the stars.

The Beast's bloodshot eyes snapped open as faint noise reached its ears. It scanned its surrounding with its three eyes, adjusting to the environment it still had grown to hate with fiery passion. It remembered those pathetic humans who had managed to trick and seal it inside this prison.

The Beast stretched its arms, testing the limbs after being motionless for centuries to preserve energy. It clenched the blades of its crab-like, half-mechanical claws tightly together, feeling the power it had almost forgotten return to them. Then, it shifted its weight from one leg to another of its six half-mechanical and crab like legs; they resembled its arms, but didn't have the smaller, hook-tipped blade that went between other two blades.

A wicked smile formed on The Beast's face as it realized its gambit had paid off at last.

When that winged creature, Sokar, found its prison underneath his newly conquered planet a hundred years ago, The Beast whispered to him, promising to give him whatever he wished for in return for its release. Sokar had promised to help with his associate, Heru'ur. Sokar was an excellent pawn to use because of his ambition to rule the galaxy with his army of monsters and mutants. He had met his demise not so long ago, but his efforts had been enough to awaken The Beast from its hibernation.

The fool had served his purpose well.

The Beast slammed its claw into the gate, causing a small crack to form. It realized that the gates were still intact enough to withstand it for a while, but not long anymore. Maybe if The Beast had tried to break out a thousand years ago right after it was sealed, the gates and seals on the other side would have prevented it from doing that, but now...

All three of its eyes narrowed. It slammed into the gates again with more force than before but the gates refused to give in so easily. Slamming its claws to the gates again, The Beast was able force a small opening between the gates through which it could see dim light.

The Beast let out an evil chuckle as it gathered all of its strength into the next strike. Its time of freedom had finally come, and no one was going to stop it. Not now, not ever!

The gates blew open from the force of the strike - chains snapped, machinery inside the gates broke, and metal crushed and twisted. Chunks of metal and stone flew everywhere, slamming into the walls, ceiling and floor; some sending a group of pathetic humans who had gathered into the room flying off their feet.

Slowly the ceiling began to open up, revealing it to be a giant hatch - the hatch The Beast had been tricked to fall through all those centuries ago. Whoever was opening it now was saving The Beast the hard work of forcing it open.

It walked to a wall and slowly began striking its claws into the rock to climb up. It started to ascend slowly but surely.

The Beast was finally free.

* * *

Void Weaver Salahkae knew the battle was going to be over soon.

He gazed over the defeated enemies in the large entrance hall of the fortress, noting that his comrades seemed displeased by the small victory they had gained. Salahkae knew what made them act like that: the easiness of these opponents.

A Warp Spider kicked a corpse of an enemy warrior near Salahkae, who stood in the very center of the hall. "Pathetic," he growled, earning a sideways glance from the Void Weaver. "These fools are not even worthy opponents!"

Salahkae didn't know who this Warp Spider was, because he was not from his squad but from Alartyl's squad. Salahkae didn't bother learning the names of the members of other squads; this made remembering the names of the members of his own squad easier. Seeing no point in thinking of the Warp Spider's fit of anger, Salahkae turned back to the bodies littered all over the place.

"Warp Spiders!" Salahkae called out, and in a flash every eldar in the room had formed a semicircle around him. "We may have defeated the enemy here, but more yet await us. I say we hunt them down like the pitiful vermin they are." He crossed his power blades in front of his chest. "In the name of War God Khaine, let none survive our wrath!"

In a bright flash of teleportation, every single Warp Spider disappeared to chase after the large group of jaffa that had escaped the hall before the eldar had sprung their trap.

* * *

The Earth team and the jaffa were staring out of the small window at the back of the throne room. The window was quite cleverly placed to allow whoever sat in the throne to see outside.

They had been observing the rather one-sided battle between the jaffa army of Heru'ur and their mysterious opponents for some time now, staring in awe as a strange lightning storm, sleek, hovering vehicles and strangely armored foot soldiers decimated the jaffa easily and effectively.

"Colonel Sawyer, can I have a word with you?" asked Webb, disengaging himself from the crowd of eager observers. "In private, sir?"

Sawyer left the window to move a bit farther from the crowd to talk to Webb. When he was sure they were out of earshot, he stopped and asked, "What do want to talk about, Captain?"

"What about the others of our team, sir? Weren't they supposed to be here?"

Realizing that he hadn't seen anyone in the room when they arrived, Sawyer looked around alarmed. "Now that you mentioned it, Captain, there was no one here. Which leaves a question: where are they?"

"Sir, where do you think they went? I'm sure they didn't leave to join the battle, because we would have seen them."

Sawyer rubbed his chin in thought; it was true they hadn't seen anyone on their way here, so where could they be. He turned silently to look at opening in the wall, raising an eyebrow. Could they have gone down there? But why? For what reason? He took a step closer to the opening, while still thinking.

"Sir?" Webb asked taking a step forward as well. "Do you think they-" He was cut off as something exploded against his back and he fell over, his face twisted with pain and his back smoking from the hit.

"Webb!" Sawyer caught his friend before he fell to floor and looked for the attacker with his sidearm drawn. He didn't have to look for long: a jaffa with his staff weapon drawn and primed was standing in the doorway, and it was clear he wasn't alone. Knowing everyone in the room had heard the commotion and were taking action, Sawyer quickly felled the jaffa with a quick shot to the head.

More jaffa began to arrive, taking the place of the fallen jaffa in an instant, priming their weapons to fire at the helpless defenders who were still trying take positions behind the debris; while Sawyer dragged wounded Webb to cover whilst firing a bullet after a bullet into the approaching enemy. Bullets and staff blasts flew as the defenders opened fire before the enemy could do it themselves. A dozen or so jaffa fell before they opened fire themselves, only a mere moment after Sawyer was able hide himself and Webb behind a large fallen pillar.

"Colonel Sawyer! Are you alright?" asked Parker as he slid into cover next to them, firing blindly at the enemy.

"Yes, but Webb's been hit! Help me drag him back so we can kill these bastards!" Sawyer fired once over the pillar and then began to drag Webb back with Parker, keeping their heads down to avoid getting hit. Luckily Webb was well enough to open fire with his own sidearm and provide covering fire on his own.

"Webb, can you stand on your own?" asked Sawyer as they finally got further back towards the huge throne. They now sat behind a large concrete piece that seemed to have once been a part of the upper wall; flanking them, the friendly jaffa had taken positions behind similar pieces of concrete, the throne or pillars that stood at the sides of the room.

Webb groaned for a second before nodding. He would be like nothing happened in a day or two. The staff weapons' surprisingly low killing power was confusing as hell, but Sawyer didn't complain as long as his team lived through the battle.

The firefight went on for a long time, both sides exchanging fire from their covered positions while taking limited casualties. The jaffa of Heru'ur had the numbers on their side, though, and would soon overwhelm the defenders.

But then something happened, something truly surprising and shocking.

An armored figure appeared in the center of the two battle lines in a flash of light, standing defiantly in the no man's land like a statue with his arms crossed. His armor was red with white shoulders and knees, and azure lines on his legs that went all the way from his waist to his black, metallic boots; his helmet black as the void with piercing green eyes; two weird blade-like protrusions extended upward from between his shoulders and his broad, black backpack; long, sharp blades extended from his forearms; and two strange weapons were hanging under his arms from tubes of some sort that were attached the side of the backpack.

Who was he? Where did he come from?

The firing came to a complete halt as more and more of similar figures appeared all around the room. They all wore the same red armor and black, broad backpack, but only three of them had the same blades, weapons and the strange upward pointing things as the first one; the others had large, bulky guns they carried two-handed. Sawyer also noted that their helmets were white instead of black like the first one's; he appeared to be the leader of these warriors.

Sawyer counted at least thirty-six of these guys - not including the first one - spread all over the room; most standing between the two battle lines, the others atop broken pillars and small alcoves near the ceiling.

Then, every newcomer in the room disappeared in synchronized flashes of light, only to reappear a good ten meters above Heru'ur's jaffa with their strange weapons pointed at downward. As one, they opened fire at their terror-stricken foes, unleashing a cloud of strange white matter that fell upon the jaffa. At first it didn't seem that dangerous, until the mass struck the jaffa, forcing them all to the ground like a net, screaming in pain and horror before they all fell silent.

Their killers disappeared again, reappearing near Sawyer and his forces like ghosts.

Everyone was immediately on guard, aiming their weapons at the strangers in case they decided to kill them, too. The strangers didn't react, though, as if the jaffa and the human team didn't exist at all.

An unnerving silence fell upon the throne room, neither side saying or doing anything.

Suddenly, one of the strangers, who was standing closest to the opening in the wall, started flinching and pressed his hand against the side of his head like he was suffering from a sudden headache. This didn't go unnoticed by anyone, even with over thirty similar warriors around him, and the strangers seemed to grow worried as more and more began flinching, some even kneeling in pain. All this seemed to centered around the opening in the wall.

The jaffa lowered their weapons in confusion, wondering the same as every human here: what was going on?

Slowly, they began to vanish again in a flash of light, although this time it seemed like the normal light blue color was distorted somewhat, with a tint of purple in it.

As the last one, the black helmeted leader, disappeared from the view, Captain Carter and her group came running out of the opening in the wall. They didn't pay any heed to the dead jaffa and ran straight to Sawyer and his group with grim expressions on their faces. Something had happened down there, but what?

Carter took a deep breath before speaking. "The monster is free!" she practically cried out. "It broke out just a moment ago! We gotta hurry!"

"Whoa whoa who-ho-hoa! Calm down, Captain Carter. What happened?" asked Sawyer, holding up his hand to stop her from going on without an explanation. It was a good thing he outranked her.

"We saw the monster Ro'nak was talking about after you left to... um, 'kick snake butts'. It was as big as a giant, and..."

Sawyer interrupted Doctor Jackson's description of the monster with an agitated frown, which the doctor picked up on quickly and shut up. He really didn't need to know something as trivial as that in a situation like this.

"What happened down there, Captain Carter? What monster are you talking about?" he asked, getting irritated with the lack of answers. "No, wait... Never mind. You can tell me when we get back to Earth after this mess is cleaned up."

"Sir, shouldn't we head outside already?" asked Bannon, and Sawyer knew he was right. Everyone knew it was pointless to stay here: they knew that if a monster of some kind was on a rampage outside, it had to be stopped immediately, no matter what.

Sawyer nodded his head, giving Bannon a look before focusing on Captain Carter and her group. They seemed a bit winded and roughed up but nothing that wouldn't go away in a few hours or so.

"Agreed," said Ro'nak with a nod. He seemed to be the most exhausted of them all, but seemed like he would be alright in a moment.

"What happened here?" asked Carter, finally noticing the dead bodies while taking a look around.

Sawyer sighed. He had hoped they wouldn't ask of them yet. He was not going to explain this here when there was a monster to stop, and these details would be told in the debriefing back on Earth anyway. "Later! Let's get going."

Without further ado he was already moving with his part of the group, leaving SG-1 and their group to stare at them in confusion.

* * *

Goa'uld System Lord Apophis watched with fascination as a large hatch opened right in front of him after pulling a switch he had found in an abandoned part of Sokar's fortress where he had been hiding since his escape after defeating the insolent Tau'ri in combat.

Apophis carefully peeked down the long pit that had revealed itself, listening to the distant sound of metal hitting stone. It was like something was climbing up from the bottom. But what? Would it be another monster like the one in the courtyard?

Deciding to get a little more distance between himself and whatever was coming up, Apophis turned around and went for the door he had used to get into the room. Grabbing a doorknob, he found it to be stuck and the door locked, trapping him inside. Apophis felt fear stiffen his body as he slowly turned to look back towards his possible doom.

A grotesque, half-organic, half-mechanical hand pushed upwards from the pit and slammed into the floor with metallic claws clinging into the dusty stone. Then another hand did the same, gouging deep marks to the floor as it tried to get a better grip. Whatever the creature was, it was a moment away from reaching the top, and Apophis was starting to panic.

He tried the door once again, trying to force it to open. He didn't even pay attention to the monster as it finally pulled itself to the surface, its feet clanking as it took a step towards the panicking goa'uld. Only when the beast knelt to get closer to Apophis did he stop trying to open the door and turn to face the monstrosity behind him with wide eyes, his body stiff from fear.

The monster had six half-mechanical spider-like legs that dug into the floor. Its torso was fat and grey skinned, but looked more like it had no skin at all. Its arms were like its legs, half-mechanical abominations, and had claws instead of hands. Its head was tilted to the side, as if it was considering Apophis for something, its salivating, sharp toothed maw twisted into a parody of a grin, its three bloodshot eyes staring at him like a predator at its prey. Even when crouched, the monster was at least five meters tall, towering over Apophis.

Then the abomination spoke, its voice deep and menacing.

"Are you... Heru'ur, the creature Sokar spoke of?" It leaned closer, slamming its claws to the floor.

Knowing this monster could kill him in a blink of an eye if he said no, Apophis nodded his head, hoping the creature was not angry at him. Even if claiming to be his oldest enemy disgusted him, he knew it might just spare his life.

The monstrosity seemed to smile as it stood upright, standing almost six meters tall if not more. "Ah, this spares me the trouble of having to find you." It let out a dark chuckle that echoed in the abandoned hall like thunder. "So you are to thank for helping me get out of that miserable pit. Name your price, Heru'ur, and I shall see that you are rewarded for your assistance."

Apophis smirked; this creature clearly thought he had pulled the switch on purpose to free it. And now it was ready to reward him for this coincidence. Things couldn't have gone better for him at the moment.

"I want power. Power to crush my opponents and conquer the galaxy," he stated with a power hungry glint in his eyes. "In your glorious name, of course, my lord!" he added as an after thought, knowing he had to choose his words carefully in the presence of this creature. One wrong word and his life would have been at its end.

"Ah, you will truly be a great help for me, just like Sokar said you would be," mused the monster. Then, it turned its gaze to the locked door behind Apophis, its bloodshot eyes narrowing.

The monster walked past a confused Apophis, the floor cracking with every step it took, and smashed its claws through the heavy metal door like it was paper, tearing it off its hinges. It crouched low and squeezed through the doorway, tearing the door frame and cracking the walls. When it had gotten outside, the creature seemed to be disgusted by the surrounding ruined part of the citadel, its maw twisted into a sneer.

"So this is what those pitiful ants have built after entrapping me," it spoke, walking towards the edge of the ancient platform the hall had been built on, in the face of the mountain that overlooked the citadel and the land around it. "Quite a pitiful sight, is it not, Heru'ur?"

Apophis said nothing as he walked through the rubble to the side of the creature, keeping at least a few meters between them.

"Tell me, Little One, who are these insects who assail this construction?" the creature asked, gesturing at the strange multicolored warriors who made short work of Heru'ur's jaffa. Granted, Heru'ur's army was not large by his standards, but it still numbered in at least a few hundred fully armed jaffa warriors. A force capable of utterly destroying the jaffa was a truly fascinating thing. Apophis needed to find out more of them.

"I do not know, my lord," he answered. A smirk spread across his face. "But they want to prevent your return at any cost. My lord, please, lend me power and I shall deal with these pests for you." This was of course just a trick to possibly gain more power and the trust of this being.

"No, I shall deal with them myself, but worry not, Little One." The beast turned to face Apophis, its face twisted into a smile. "I shall tell you where to find power beyond your wildest dreams, young one, if you so grave it."

Apophis perked his ears, listening carefully.

"Go to the lands around this place and search for a small pit near a hill. There you will find what you seek. I left an artifact there before I was sealed away. You could use it against your enemies. I will come there as well, after I take care of these insects."

Yes! This was exactly what Apophis had hoped for. This monster had no idea how fateful a mistake it had done, giving Apophis an opportunity to gain something powerful he could use against it.

Without a word, the monster leapt over the edge and left Apophis behind, not that he minded, of course.

Staring after the beast for a moment more, he decided to leave. He smiled, knowing that if the monster fell against these mysterious assailants, he could always have this artifact.

This was going to be quite interesting.

* * *

A bright explosion of energy rippled across the battlefield, throwing dead and dying jaffa all around, while the battle went on around it without a pause.

The eldar warhost was relentless and merciless against the opposing jaffa warriors, never giving any quarter or pausing its well coordinated slaughter. The honed skills and tactics of the eldar were used to their full extends: making tactical withdraws when the enemy thought it could mount a counter attack; striking fast as lightning when the jaffa thought they could have a breather; flanking from where they least suspected; picking off vulnerable targets with pinpoint accuracy.

Near the front lines, Corsair Prince Aluhrial Juriane stood atop a downed carcass of an enemy fighter, keeping track of the situation. Next to him stood Warlock Quirath, of the Craftworld Saim-Hann, clad in red robes of his craftworld with a witchblade and shuriken pistol in his hands. With his assistance, Aluhrial had come up with this great strategy.

"Do you think it is time to go for the killing blow, Lord Juriane?" asked the warlock.

Aluhrial stayed silent for a moment and then nodded.

With a curt bow, Quirath sped away at high speeds granted by his psychic powers to spread news of Aluhrial's decision and to join the assault. The banished prince of Zahr-Tann hoped the warlock didn't exhaust himself before he even got into battle. The key drawback of Quirath's powers was the sheer strain put on his body: moving at such speeds took much out of him and he risked ripping his muscles every time he used his powers.

"There is something dark here," muttered Aluhrial, turning his gaze towards the fortress a hundred meters away from the battlefield. Even without great psychic powers, like those of Farseer Aldreth, he - no, every eldar on the planet - could feel emanating darkness coming from the citadel. He hoped that none of the Warp Spiders or rangers inside had faced anything Chaos related. Their mission was to clear out the enemy forces that had gotten inside when the eldar had begun their assault.

"Hmph, I should get ready," he said as he jumped down from the wreck and left for the front lines. "I hope my instinct is wrong for once."

* * *

The jaffa were on the run, abandoning their ill-defended position the moment their enemies retreated again to make another lightning fast raid on them, leaving behind their dead and wounded comrades. While an outsider would think this was cowardice or a self preservation act, this was actually done according to orders given by Heru'ur via a communication ball. Unknowingly, this act had saved their lives.

Heru'ur had understood the hopelessness of the situation and had ordered a full retreat from the planet. The mysterious alien vessel that floated in the void with the Ha'taks of his fleet had made it clear that any action against it would end in an instant annihilation of the attacking ship, hence the reason why the Ha'tak were situated thousands of kilometers away from it.

Heru'ur had decided to forget about the whole deal he had made with Sokar and just leave the system behind. There was no reason for him to throw away his men and ships for something that wasn't probably even true.

There was no monster here; only lies.

With that in mind, the goa'uld System Lord sent down dropships to retrieve his men and prepared his fleet to leave as soon as they were on board.

Sitting on his throne and clenching his hands into fists, Heru'ur cursed this useless journey, this waste of time. To hell with this planet! There was no point in trying to conquer it if this alien ship kept interfering, not that it would matter any more. Of course, he could come back with his full fleet, but that would be stupid and would leave his worlds unprotected.

The fact that news of Sokar's death was indeed real was a relief, a small one, too small to compensate for this embarrassment.

* * *

"So, the enemy fled before we could finish them off," mused Aluhrial as he met up with the other squads of the warhost. They had assembled in front of the damaged gates of the citadel, disappointed.

"Yes, Lord Juriane," confirmed Quirath. He looked rather tense, glancing around every now and then.

"The _Sword of Vaul _reports that the enemy fleet is beginning to retreat. Some ships have already left, leaving only a few to wait for the dropships to get back." The speaker was Dire Avenger Exarch Rachen, a veteran of hundreds of battles. Like all exarchs, he, too, was lost on his path, unable to get back and try another. Such a shame; his tactical sense and fighting prowess would be of great use were he an autarch.

"So, they have given up?" asked Aluhrial.

"So it seems."

Suddenly the vox came to life - a transmission from the _Sword of Vaul_. What could they want now?

"Go ahead."

"Aluhrial, this is Autarch Fetalque." Fetalque's voice was stern and serious, with a hint of worry. "We have detected a new threat moving towards you from the direction of the fortress."

"The daemonic presence the farseer sensed? Already?"

"So it would seem. Be on your guard!"

"We will," Aluhrial said and cut the connection. He knew reinforcements would on their way, but he was confident they would not be needed.

"Lord?" inquired one of his corsairs, awaiting orders.

Aluhrial raised his voice to make sure every eldar heard him. "Autarch Fetalque says a daemon is headed our way. Prepare yourselves for battle!"

"But, Lord Juriane," asked Rachen, "since you already sent most of our forces either back to the _Sword of Vaul _or to scout the area for stragglers, how can we defeat such a creature?"

"We'll have to rely on ourselves, Rachen," answered Aluhrial as drew his chainsword from its sheath. He had known it was a bad idea to send them away, but he hadn't expected the daemonic creature to appear so soon. "Make yourselves ready."

Everyone drew their weapons and took defensive positions around the corpse ridden ground, aiming their weapons at the gates. Dire Avengers formed a firing line with Aluhrial's corsairs farther away from the others, intending to strike down the daemon with their shuriken catapults. Striking Scorpions and Howling Banshees took position next to Aluhrial and Quirath near a crater caused by a Fire Prism's cannon. Aluhrial's visor also picked up rangers taking positions atop the gates, aiming their rifles down in anticipation.

_Where are the Warp Spiders? _Aluhrial thought, noticing that they were the only ones missing at the moment._ The rangers are here, but they aren't. Could the daemon have - no, they wouldn't be that easy to kill._

His musings were interrupted by the appearance of the Warp Spiders ten meters to the left. They immediately aimed their death spinners at the gates before Aluhrial could ask them anything. A moment later a blood chilling and menacing roar that surely belonged to the daemon was heard.

"Here it comes!" shouted Aluhrial, taking aim with his reaper launcher. "Bring it down!"

A large shape came charging through the damaged gates like a berserker of Khorne. It was met by a hail of razor sharp discs, micro missiles and clouds of monofilament wires.

* * *

The Beast recoiled in shock as the first of his enemies' shots hit him.

It hadn't expected to face weapons capable of hurting it nor the disciplined firing line that had been formed to meet it.

A salvo of micro missiles sailed past its head just as it resumed charging, hoping to take out their source. The razor sharp discs and wire clouds were not a threat to The Beast's tough hide, but the missiles were powerful enough to cause damage.

Suddenly, a sword sliced at The Beast's leg, followed by seven more before a rocket salvo struck its torso. It grabbed the nearest attacker, a warrior dressed in a bone white suit of armor and a helmet with a red mane, and threw her away while kicking three others away and punching a fifth warrior to the ground. The three others leapt back while unleashing a high-pitched scream that might have hurt it if it was a pitiful human insect.

The Beast roared in pain as a blade slashed its back several times very quickly, causing deep wounds that bled black blood. It turned around quickly, intending to crush the attacker when he landed, but found no one in sight.

Its moment of confusion was rewarded with a trio of shots to the chest, cracking its hide a bit. Then one of its legs broke apart in a shower of blood and sparks, throwing it off balance.

Seven green armored warriors, wielding strange, rectangular weapons with moving teeth decided to take advantage of the situation and charged at it from behind, firing small lasers from their helmets as they did. They rolled under its swings and kicks and struck their weapons into its tough hide with little effect.

A nuisance, these vermin.

A new hail of razor sharp discs struck The Beast's already wounded back, causing it to recoil in pain. In retaliation, it slammed warriors out of its way indiscriminately. One of them, a warrior with a large claw in his right hand and one of those rectangular weapons in his left, casually dodged its swings while his comrades went flying. He ducked under its punch, rolled between its legs and, as soon as he stood up again behind it, leapt onto its back, digging the claw into the wounds.

The Beast rocked around, trying to throw the man off its back, while reaching for him with its claws. Its right claw caught the desperately hanging warrior, and it brought him to the face level, roaring right at his face.

A blue flash of light blinded it, before the claw holding the warrior was sliced in two, the smaller blade falling uselessly to the ground. The warrior fell to the ground and fell back, joining his teammates while another batch of warriors took their place against The Beast.

The one who sliced of the claw was dressed in a red armor and black boots, helmet, gauntlets and a broad metal device on his back. Two curved blades were attached to his forearms, and two strange weapons under his arms, connected to his shoulders by a tube. Two blade-like things extended upwards from between his backpack and shoulders. He stood in front of The Beast defiantly, weapons trained on it.

The Beast roared in rage, lusting for vengeance for the loss of its claw and leg. It lunged at the attacker only for him to disappear in another blue flash of light.

The Beast swung around, smashing another attacker off his feet. This one was brown armored and had a black cape hanging from his shoulders. He wielded the same weapon as the green armored ones and carried the large ranged weapon that fired all those missiles at it. Flipping in midair, the attacker landed on his feet and managed to jump back before the next strike hit him. A hail of sharp discs prevented The Beast from going on with its attack, allowing the brown armored warrior to fire another salvo of micro missiles that hit The Beast right to the chest, causing it howl in pain and rage.

A series of flashes of light drew The Beast's attention above where over thirty red armored warriors appeared a few meters above it, firing their weapons as one, unleashing a cloud of sharp webs that fell upon The Beast. It sliced its hide, but did not penetrated it. As it raged and roared, more shots hit its already wounded back from above, and sharp discs struck its torso from the side. It felt swords and bladed teeth hit it, causing more and more wounds that bled black.

As The Beast ripped itself free from the web, it kicked, punched and slammed warriors away from it. It grabbed a bone armored warrior and threw her with all its might at the group of blue armored warriors who kept firing their stinging weapons at it. The woman crashed into them, knocking over two warriors who tried to soften her fall. The Beast didn't bother trying swat the annoying red armored warriors, for it knew they had teleported again, away from its reach.

Feeling a sword slash at another leg, this one the right front leg as opposed to the missing left middle leg. Immediately The Beast knew that this was the same attacker as before, the insect who dared take its leg. He would pay for that in blood!

The attacker stopped moving and stood like statue a dozen meters from The Beast. He wore a red robe with strange armor worn over it, a white helmet with a black faceplate. A glowing sword was in his hands, its tip pointed at The Beast. He was good at hiding it, but The Beast could see he was exhausted. Yes, excellent; weakened prey.

The Beast charged, roaring, at its target, intent on crushing him like a bug.

* * *

Quirath saw the abomination coming, charging at him despite its missing leg and wounds. It had finally caught on that he was the one who caused all that damage.

He was exhausted from using his speed so much in one day; he was regretting that he had used it so much against the aliens. He could feel his feet and arms aching from moving at such speeds. The sword felt heavy in his hand, and his legs were ready to give up under him, but he couldn't allow himself a moment of rest.

The monster was almost upon him; it was time to act!

Using his enhanced speed to dodge a blow, he sped around the creature to strike at its wounded back. Unfortunately, the monster was seemingly expecting this, turning around just in time to force Quirath to dodge again. He quickly jumped away to avoid another claw from crashing into him, sighing in relief when a hail of shuriken fire hit the monster - a diversion, a small one, but a diversion nonetheless.

He charged in, slammed his sword against the monster's torso and rolled under it, slicing it from underneath as he did.

Corsair Prince Aluhrial took this as his cue, firing his weapon at the monstrous abomination, causing more and more pain and bleeding wounds. The Dire Avengers and corsairs also joined the fray, unleashing a continuous hail of shuriken ammunition.

Quirath rolled from under the monster and jumped to his feet. Howling Banshees charged past him, intent on avenging their fallen sister, unleashing their banshee cries upon the monstrosity as they did. Quirath sped after them, leaping over them to land on the monster's back while it was distracted by the corsair prince. His sword slammed into the monster, earning a loud howl of pain and burst of black blood.

Quirath jumped off as he sensed the rangers were about to fire again. Twisting in midair, he landed just as a trio of shots struck the beast to the back of its head. It swung all around, swatting Howling Banshees and Striking Scorpions out of its way like flies while trying to reach the sword still stuck in its back. It was bleeding heavily from numerous wounds that didn't seem to stall it at all and took all that fire from the eldar like it was nothing, narrowly managing avoid being hit by Aluhrial's reaper launcher, seemingly the only weapon capable of hurting it.

Panting from the strain put on his body, Quirath forced himself to super speed one more time, intending to finish the fight quickly. He ran past his fellow eldar, ducking low as the monster swung around again, crushing a striking scorpion to ground with the force of the blow. Quirath jumped high, aided by his enhanced speed and momentum, leapt from the top of creature's leg to its back, grabbing his sword in the process. He carved another long wound inon monster's back as he wrenched it free from its flesh.

Just as he landed back on the ground, the monster turned around and grabbed him between its claws, crushing him its formidable strength. It was angry, hatred burning in its bloodshot eyes as it roared at him. It ignored everyone else around it, bent on eliminating the one that had caused most of the damage done to it.

Quirath felt his bones break and blood flow from ruptured veins as he struggled to escape the death grip.

He had all but given up when the creature saw fit to throw him away in its rage, sending him sailing through the air. He closed his eyes in anticipation, waiting for the hard impact against the ground.

Right before falling unconscious, he felt a pair of arms catch him midair.

* * *

Autarch Fetalque Swiftblade, of the Craftworld Alaitoc, brother of deceased Autarch Elarique, slowly descended to the ground with mortally wounded Quirath in his arms. He gently lowered the wounded warlock to the ground, resting his head against a fallen enemy warrior. The warlock would need immediate medical attention, but first this creature had to be stopped for good.

He had left the _Sword of Vaul _immediately after contacting Aluhrial, sending Warlock Ylurail and Colnir to rendezvous with the other eldar elements on the planet and head for his current location as fast as possible. He had jumped from his Falcon when it was about a kilometer from the ground level after ordering it to take the two seers to their destination and used his wings to fly down just in time to save Quirath from a certain death. His timing was excellent, but he felt he could have arrived a moment earlier.

Spreading out his wings. Fetalque leapt high into the air, his wings carrying him over battlefield to land next to Aluhrial, who was blasting away at the monster as it fought against Howling Banshees and Striking Scorpions while rangers, Dire Avengers, Warp Spiders and Aluhrial's corsair's gave them covering fire.

"Autarch Swiftblade," greeted Aluhrial calmly, nodding, as he dodged a flying Striking Scorpion thrown by the abomination.

Fetalque gave him a nod of his own and helped the thrown Aspect Warrior back to his feet, glad that he was not too injured to fight.

Absently, Fetalque touched his sister's spirit stone on the right side of his chest, feeling strange warmness radiate from it, as if Elarique was trying to speak to him.

He let go of the spirit stone, gripped his fusion gun even harder and drew his power sword from its sheath. He spread his wings and took a giant leap across the air, his fusion gun blasting pure heat at his target, his sword glinting in the low sunlight. He soared high, before he reached the apex of his jump and started descending towards his target, the fusion gun attached back to its place on his side. His sword was poised for a strike, and he gripped it with both hands as he plunged down.

The monster screamed in pain as Fetalque slammed down on its already heavily wounded back, which, Fetalque noted, seemed to be its weakest point.

Other Aspect Warriors of Khaine took this as their cue and unleashed all they had against the abomination, their swords piercing it from every side while shuriken and clouds of monofilament wire continued to batter it. It threw eldar away like annoying little bugs in its rage. Fetalque hung on to the hilt of his sword before being flung from the monster's back and onto the ground where Aluhrial quickly helped him up.

As the autarch was trying get back to his feet, he felt something happen, something... strange.

His sister's spirit stone, Elarique's spirit stone, began to glow fiercely and emit heat. The light blinded him, even as his helmet tried to dim the glow; the heat was getting through his armor, like it wasn't even there. He was blown backwards a few feet by an invisible force.

When the light finally stopped, Fetalque saw a transparent figure that emitted bright light. Fetalque felt his heart skip a beat as the figure turned around to face him, revealing the face of a person he had never thought to see again.

"Elarique?"

She looked like she had before charging headlong into Ygethmor's Chaos army, only as a ghost. Her body was covered in white particles of what looked to be smoke, small bits breaking off at irregular intervals, floating away in the wind and vanishing. Only her head was visible, her sadly smiling face looking at him in sorrow, her features blurry in the glow, her short hair dancing in a nonexistent wind.

"Fetalque, brother," Elarique said sadly, taking a step towards him. Her outline was clearer now, but still a bit blurry. "I never thought I'd never speak to you again. I could have never imagined you'd find a way to let my soul free from the stone."

"But, I didn't do anything, sister. Y-your stone started to act on its own."

Elarique smiled again, this time more happily. "I know that, Fetalque. I know you'd never release my soul. But still, I am here now to help you as my last deed."

Fetalque's eyes widened in horror as her words finally registered in his mind. "No, please, don't! Elarique, sister... I can't lose you again!" He tried to reach for her, his hand trembling.

His sister only stepped away, looking down. "I cannot stay here, brother. I can feel myself slipping away. I'm going to end this abomination for you..." She turned her gaze past Fetalque to look at dumbfounded Aluhrial. "Take care of him for me. He may be an autarch, but he can't take care of himself without me."

The corsair prince of Zahr-Tann gave a curt nod and grabbed Fetalque's shoulder as Elarique started to walk away to face the monster.

"No, Elarique! Please, don't..."

"I'm sorry, brother," was all the elder autarch said before she began to break apart and ran at the creature.

The battle had halted for the duration of the event, the eldar and the monster staring stunned at the soul of Elarique even as it charged the monster. The eldar, sensing something was about to happen, quickly got away from the immediate vicinity of the monster, which swung its arms around in a vain attempt to keep the charging spirit away.

With a battle cry Elarique hit the creature right in chest, vanishing in a swirl of smoke-like particles that in turn vanished when they made contact with the monster.

For a moment there was nothing,, but then light exploded from the abomination.

* * *

An intense and bright light burst from The Beast's mouth, eyes and wounds.

It howled in excruciating pain. The daemonic energies that kept its machinery working and its organic body alive began to evaporate, banished from the mortal plane and destroyed for good. It slumped to the ground, its claws fell off one by one and its dark blood coagulated and burst into flames in its veins almost instantly.

The Beast stopped its howling as the light finally died, and smoke, physical and not, poured from its open mouth, eyes and wounds in its blackened and already decaying hide.

* * *

**And that's it!**

**By the way The Beast is basically a Soul Grinder without a ranged weapon, and Webb getting shot in the back is a reference to what happened to him in World in Conflict's last mission (not that big a spoiler really).**

**The last part of the fight was a bit rushed because I wanted to upload immediately after finishing this, seriously this was supposed to up by the start September and it's almost December. How did you like Elarique's appearance from behind the grave? I had this planned out for a long time now. This serves as an example how different this reality is from the canon ones, and as an important moment for Fetalque.**

**I want you, my reviewers, to answer the following questions: In what chapter should Ro'nak's homeworld be visited? When should Jack start to edge towards total corruption? Should I make a character list for all the different eldar I have? When should Anubis visit the SGC (remember he's a good guy)? Should other goa'uld (I'm thinking of Ba'al) be good guys? Should Jones Quinn replace Daniel or become an extra member for the team? Should I have a 'previously on Stargate SG-1' thing with my story? What do you think of the direction this story is heading into?**

**Well, that's all for now. See you in the future!**

**Bye!**


	7. First Contact

**Welcome to the last chapter this year!**

**_popupman_: Good to know you enjoy this, and sorry I dragged you into Warhammer. If you don't mind me asking, how did you find my story in the first place?**

**_starspawn07_: Perhaps a little poor wording on my part. I have nothing against the Greater Good itself (aside from making it impossible to not think of tau when the words pop up); just the tau themselves really. Introducing a far worse enemy (i.e. Chaos) is exactly what's going to happen, and some goa'uld will be corrupted but not mutated into some second coming of tyranids.**

**_Trife_: I think you messed up Elarique's rank. I really must thank you for answering all of my questions, your answers really helped me. About SGA, though, I believe I'll end the story before that. I'm not going to include ascending in this story, at least on our protagonists' part, so Elarique won't be ascending but won't be devoured by Slaanesh either. No goa'uld possessing the warlock, though, because it would complicate my plans and I don't think a goa'uld would try to posses a near-dead body. In hindsight, might have been interesting.**

**_Lunatic Pandora1_: Well, the humans (and jaffa) did witness the fight, but didn't interfere because the eldar were handling situation quite well. Besides, if they did, they might have hit an eldar close combat fighter in the process, and that wouldn't have worked well for their image.**

**As you all might have already seen, I do not follow the episodes in this version, because... well, that really didn't work in the previous version. This time you get a plot that only sometimes refers to or includes an episode. Eldar won't, of course, start interfering until they have established where they are and have learned to somehow speak English (latter is not so mandatory).**

**Well, read on.**

* * *

_Last time on Stargate Eldar:_

The Beast slammed its claws into the gates, blowing them open.

_A monstrosity from the past broke free of its prison and escaped to the surface with Apophis' help._

"The monster is free!" shouted Captain Carter.

"I want power. Power to crush my opponents and conquer the galaxy," Apophis stated as The Beast stood in front of him.

"I shall tell you where to find power beyond your wildest dreams, Little One, if you so grave it."

_The Beast attacked the eldar as the jaffa fled the world._

Sitting on his throne and clenching his hands into fists, Heru'ur cursed the fruitless journey while dropships retrieved the jaffa from the planet.

"Here it comes!" shouted Aluhrial. "Bring it down!"

_A bitter battle began as The Beast showed no sign of stopping._

The Beast grabbed Quirath with its claws and squeezed, breaking his bones with its strength before throwing him away like thrash.

_Only thanks to the sacrifice of Elarique was The Beast defeated before it could cause more trouble._

"No, Elarique! Please, don't..."

"I'm sorry, brother."

Light exploded from The Beast and when it vanished, the monster was dead.

_And now, the story continues..._

* * *

**First Contact**

Autarch Fetalque sat in his quarters, blankly staring at the wall in front of him.

After losing his sister forever to the ravages of the Warp, he was depressed. He tried to understand what had just happened. Elarique's spirit stone had broken apart on its own, releasing her soul within. It was hard to grasp the subject at hand: Fetalque knew spirit stones could crack and release the soul stored within, but this was different, far too different for his liking. The souls trapped within the stones weren't supposed to appear like his sister did, to have a form capable of talking or destroying a daemon before vanishing.

What was going on? How could this happen? How was this possible?

Fetalque sighed as he kept pondering what to make of this mess.

* * *

"He hasn't come out at all?" asked Farseer Aldreth.

"No, Farseer," answered Aluhrial. He had kept watch over the door to the autarch's quarters ever since they came back aboard. "He hasn't done much more than sit in there. I believe his mind is in turmoil."

"I am not surprised by this development. He did, after all, see his sister after her death, if only for a moment's time." She gave the door a sidelong glance before turning around. "There is no need to wait for him to come out. Let him be for the time being." She could sense Aluhrial nod and leave while she did the same, heading for her own quarters.

She had thought of today's events, and this was far too strange for her, too.

Aldreth walked down the corridors of _Sword of Vaul_, ignoring everyone who she passed along the way. Her mind was pondering about the strange events right after their ship had arrived here in this strange place. This whole new civilization, these daemons and Elarique's appearance.

Everything was out of place, even the Warp! It was so different than she was used to, with no raging currents or soul hungering daemons in sight.

It was like they had appeared in another universe all together. Maybe... Could that be what had happened? It sounded impossible yet plausible. It would explain everything yet not all.

Aldreth needed to meditate and try to make sense of all this.

* * *

It was a sight to behold.

The ground was littered with dead jaffa - blasted apart, cleaved in two, blown across dozen of meters with great force or simply shot to death. The strange warriors and their weaponry were truly frightening, of that Samantha Carter couldn't argue. One of the most amazing signs of their power was what was left of the giant monster released from underneath the citadel.

They had all witnessed the battle against this creature from behind the gates, opting not to interfere in case they hit these strange warriors and caused bad blood between them before even meeting them formally. Sam wasn't so sure how they would react to the Tau'ri, seeing that they seemed to have a quite distrusting attitude towards humans which was another mystery to solve.

"I still can't believe something this weird can even happen," said Janet as she examined a dead body next to Sam. This one had been stabbed to death with a bladed weapon.

"You'd better," replied Sam dryly, staring at the monster's remains with disgust. "We may have to experience more stuff like this. Whoever these people are, they don't seem that friendly."

"Considering they are still watching us," commented Colonel Sawyer, deadpan, looking at the gates and walls of the citadel. His gun was leaning against his leg as he sat on a downed Death Glider's wing. He didn't seem that concerned even with his comment.

"What do you mean?" asked Sam, looking around in confusion. She noticed Daniel, Jacob, Teal'c and Ro'nak inspecting a large, round area devoid of bodies while talking about something. She saw Captain Webb, Captain Bannon and Lieutenant Parker talking to a group of jaffa near the gates, mostly ignoring the gruesome battlefield.

"Look up, Captain," said Sawyer simply, pointing towards the gates. "Up there, on the balconies. You see them?"

Carter did as told, squinting her eyes to see the balconies. True to the colonel's words, she could make out figures standing there, watching them. They didn't even try to hide themselves, standing in plain sight as if testing them to see how they would react.

"I see them," she replied, turning back to Sawyer who only nodded.

"I think we should return to Earth," said Janet, rising to stand upright. "There's nothing that requires our immediate attention here, and I need to check on Colonel O'Neill."

"Agreed," said Sawyer as he jumped down from the Death Glider. "General Hammond is probably waiting for us to return already. Besides I don't want to spend another hour on this planet come hell or high water."

That was true; they were only supposed to escort Ro'nak back to the citadel and return in three hours. Now it had to have been at least four or five hours. People would be worried in the SGC.

"Webb! Bannon! Parker!" yelled Sawyer, attracting the attention of his subordinates. "We're leaving!"

"Daniel! Teal'c! You heard the colonel!" yelled Sam, forcing her teammates to cut their conversation short.

As everyone gathered on their location, they said goodbyes to Ro'nak and Jacob and then made their way down the long street. The small community that surrounded the citadel was empty at the moment, the civilians having not returned yet after their evacuation. The buildings were made of wood and were quite old, showing clear signs of lack of repair. Some were falling apart already, seemingly abandoned by people.

Sokar's reign of terror had truly kept the civilians scared: all windows had been boarded shut and all doors had been reinforced with whatever was available to prevent anything from entering. It was sad to know these people had suffered so much before Sokar was finally killed off for good.

After walking down most of the street, everyone halted when they spotted someone standing in front of the Stargate, as if studying it. He was dressed in black robes with a bone white helmet and armor. A silver spear was leaning against the DHD.

"What should we do?" asked Captain Webb, preparing his gun.

"Nothing radical; we don't want to scare him," replied Sawyer calmly. He then turned to Daniel and asked, "Can you talk to him or something?"

"I could try, but I don't know what language he speaks. Besides, he could turn violent," Daniel said as he walked to the front of the group. "Anyone have a zat in case he does get violent?"

"I do," answered Teal'c, drawing said weapon from its holster.

"As do I," said Sam, doing the same. She didn't really know if this would work at all, considering the hostile attitude and the fact that robe wearing warriors like this one could do supernatural things - lightning, fire, fading out of sight, even super speed. There was no telling what this one could do.

Daniel took a step forward from the group whilst everyone else tensed in anticipation, preparing for the worst. "Umm, hello!" he called out.

Sam resisted the urge to slam her hand into her face. Of course, she hadn't expected him to start a conversation in alien language immediately, but couldn't he at least sound a bit more confident? She hoped the alien didn't react badly to their unexpected presence.

The spear lifted itself off its leaning position and flew right into the alien's awaiting hand, glowing dimly as he turned to face them with the spear held in a battle stance. He eyed them for a moment, tilting his head to the side a bit as if asking them to speak.

"Can you understand me?" asked Daniel a bit hesitantly, eyeing the silver spear. "We mean you no harm," he said as he took a bold step forward.

Wrong move.

The alien spun his spear around him and brought it down on the ground in front of the gate's platform. The moment the weapon struck a shockwave traveled forth from the point of impact, blowing dirt and ground all around as it tore its way towards the shocked group of humans and a jaffa. Daniel covered his face with his arms, anticipating a painful impact, but to everyone's surprise the shockwave dissipated right before hitting Daniel, who lowered his arms with a confused expression on his face.

"What? I thought he was going to hit us..." muttered Daniel, taking a step backward.

Sam herself thought the same, and seeing the alien hold his spear and tilt his head in a confused manner told her that he really did try to hit them. So, why did the attack stop?

"Stop, we don't want to hurt you!" yelled Sam, activating her zat and aiming it at him in case he tried again.

The alien didn't react to her words as others aimed their guns at him, ready to fire if he tried the shockwave again. He stepped back a bit, his helmet's eyepieces staring at them - no, not at them but past them. He seemed hesitant, not because of guns pointed at him, but because of something else, maybe what had stopped his attack.

A loud noise broke tenseness of the moment, signaling the SG teams that Stargate was dialing the address; the alien didn't appear to notice this at all, holding his stance. He was standing right in front of the gate, oblivious to its engaging. The energy burst from the gate would easily send the alien flying, causing at least some minor injuries but nothing major since the area was pretty empty.

As the last chevron engaged, the alien, finally alerted by the noise, turned around to see what was going on just as the energy burst ejected from the gate before flowing back and forming what resembled a vertical wall of still water. The alien was sent flying backwards and slammed into DHD, hard. Everyone immediately rushed to his side and found out he was unconscious from the hit, the spear lying uselessly next to him, its glow vanishing.

"Well, that saves us the trouble of fighting him," said Sawyer with a slightly worried look on his face.

Carter remained silent, averting her eyes from the alien to see the men who emerged from the gate. SG-2, sent by General Hammond to see if they were okay, walked to them as the gate deactivated behind them.

Now, the only problem remaining was to get the alien to Earth for medical aid.

Maybe they could finally talk to him without him trying to kill them.

* * *

Korra dragged himself out of the wreckage of his Death Glider, bleeding from a gash on his forehead. His right leg was broken, forcing him to limp if he could even stand anymore. The crash had been worse than he had anticipated; the Glider was totaled and he could barely move anymore.

He leaned against the trunk of the tree his Glider had toppled when it crashed, resting his leg and holding his forehead. The bleeding had already stopped so he wasn't going to bleed to death. Good - that was good, right? But what would happen to him? The defenders would kill him if they found him, and Heru'ur would execute him for cowardice.

He looked around him.

The grassy field was peaceful, aside from the long trail of upturned ground where the Glider had hit the ground, struck a bunch of rocks and cartwheeled to its current location. The patch of trees was also mostly undamaged, save for a fallen tree or two. The citadel was in the distance, smoke rising from its surroundings. No one would find him here anytime soon.

"Korra..." came a low voice from the Death Glider's cockpit. A hand grabbed on to the side as the occupant started to pull himself up.

Korra hastily pushed himself to a sitting position while his hand reached for his zat, only to find an empty holster. The crash had dislodged it and flung it to floor of the cockpit. He was wounded and unarmed, unable to effectively fight against the co-pilot at this time.

The co-pilot pulled himself from the cockpit and fell to the ground on his back, only rise to his feet despite Korra's wish for him to break his neck in the fall. He slowly limped forward with his injured legs, drawing his zat from its holster and aiming it at Korra, his face twisted in an angry scowl. He fired once, sending electricity coursing through Korra's body.

"If you hadn't been such a coward, Korra," the co-pilot growled as the spasms stopped. "We would still have our Glider and honor. We could have destroyed our enemies and led our comrades to victory! But you had to ruin everything by fleeing from certain victory!" He fired again, sending Korra spasming again. "I will kill you in Heru'ur's name! Only then have I regained my lost honor!"

Korra's spasming stopped right in time for him to lean to the left and avoid the next shot. This, of course, didn't let him dodge the second shot that send him twitching again. Electricity coursed through his body as he desperately tried to drag himself away from the mad co-pilot.

He didn't succeed in the slightest.

The co-pilot's mad laughter echoed in his ears as he was hit again. The zat fired again, keeping Korra electrified and preventing him from trying to fight back.

The sound of a breaking branch distracted the co-pilot from the torture, allowing Korra to crawl behind the tree stump while he was aiming at the trees, calling for anyone in there to come out and surrender. He fired a few shots into the foliage as intimidation, hoping to hit whoever was hiding there.

Korra crawled away from crash site, dragging himself away to the shadow of the trees, hoping to get away. He stopped to gather his breath behind an ages old tree that towered over all the others. His muscles ached, the electricity having fulfilled its purpose, and he collapsed to the ground behind the magnificent tree, breathing heavily, his goa'uld larva screeching in the pain.

Korra closed his eyes for a moment as he forced himself to sit against the tree, listening closely to the co-pilot's frantic shooting. He hadn't noticed that Korra was gone - excellent! He still had time to get away, but his injuries were slowing him down far too much for his liking.

A soft green glow attracted his attention.

"What is that?" he asked himself as he followed the light to its origin, underneath the tree, in a pit among its roots. There was something there, something small. Korra lay down and tried to reach for it, wanting to know what caused such a beautiful glow. His hand only touched roots so he crawled closer and tried again, this time lightly touching the source of the light. Korra inched a bit closer, leaning on to a root as tried again. Just as he managed to grab the object, the root he was leaning on gave way, and he fell to the pit.

Groaning in ever-increasing pain, Korra forced himself up to a sitting position so he could examine the object held tightly in his hand. It was round, made of unknown metal and cold as ice to the touch. It was at least a twenty centimeters in diameter, and the glow came through numerous small cracks in the object's shell. He could feel something pulsing within, like it was alive. He stared at the sphere, mesmerized by its arcane design, bathing in its light, until he remembered where he was and what was going on.

He quickly climbed back out of the pit, pulling himself up with his arms since his injured leg pretty much useless right now. He held the strange sphere close to his body, convinced that it was his and his alone and no one would ever dare take it from him. He was so focused on the strange device that he didn't hear the co-pilot stop shooting. He could only stare at the sphere even as he heard footsteps coming ever closer to his hideout. It was like it was talking to him, whispering words into his mind, promises of great power.

He was so blind to his surroundings he didn't see a man walk next to him with a knife in hand. He didn't hear him demand "That belongs to me, jaffa," either. He didn't see him raise the knife nor did he feel it stab deep into his chest, puncturing his lung and heart. Only when the sphere was torn from his hands did he realize that something had happened to him, but it was too late. He didn't even notice his killer walk away like nothing had happened as he died with a knife in his chest.

Korra fell down to the pit, sliding to the bottom to be forgotten, never to be found again.

* * *

Nareleth knew he should have tried to delay the humans until Keconrith had finished studying the strange ring. Now, he could only watch in horror as the humans carried him through the ring's strange watery surface. He hadn't been fast enough to get to his current location to see what exactly had happened, but he saw a group of four humans come through the ring to meet up with the other humans as they gathered around a knocked out Keconrith. This same four-man group stayed behind as the others went through the ring and disappeared.

Nareleth needed to do something, but what? He couldn't start shooting up the place or try to rush after them. No, those ideas wouldn't work at all. He needed something else, something to go after them unnoticed.

"Ranger! What are you doing here this far from your appointed position?" demanded a voice from behind him, causing Nareleth spring up from his hiding place behind a small human house.

"Warlock Colnir! What are you doing here, Honored One?" asked Nareleth, not sure how to explain his reasons.

"Save it, Ranger! I came here to investigate why Keconrith hasn't responded or returned. Somehow, I feel you have something to tell me, do you not, Ranger?" There was no real anger or malice in his voice, but still seemed agitated by the fact that Nareleth was here and not in the citadel with the others. Not surprising since Farseer Aldreth had given them specific orders to stay there and keep an eye on its inhabitants.

"I was only trying to stop the humans from leaving until Keconrith was done here. I was too late, I'm afraid, and the humans took him with them through the ring. I am hoping to be able to help save him from the _mon-keigh_. There is no telling what those primitives will do to him."

Colnir listened to his explanation closely, until he finally nodded. "Return to the citadel and contact the _Sword of Vaul_; tell them of this development."

"What about you?"

"I'll try to infiltrate the place they took Keconrith to." Colnir looked around corner to observe the humans, with Nareleth doing the same. The humans were observing the area around the ring with their crude weapons at the ready, the ring's water-like surface disappearing. These humans would activate it later to return to their base of operations when they were ready here. This was Colnir's plan: to go with the humans under illusion and try to free Keconrith while the eldar here would try to find a way to operate this ring.

"Are you sure it will work?"

"No, but I must at least try." Colnir turned and gave one clear order, "Go, now!"

Nareleth didn't need to be told twice and he took off running back to the citadel. There was no doubt Colnir would be able to fool these humans with his illusions.

Hopefully Colnir would save Keconrith and return before the humans sliced him apart to know what made him "tick". And if that didn't work then the eldar would strike fast and hard against the humans and save the warlocks from their grasp.

Nareleth hoped the former would occur.

* * *

Daniel Jackson sat next to the unconscious alien's bed in the infirmary of the SGC, reading his notebook and making notes every now and then.

He had asked to stay with him while the others went to the debriefing with General Hammond. Janet had checked on the alien and then went to check on Jack when she didn't see any injuries that would need immediate medical attention. She said she would give Jack some leave from work, to give him time to recover from his injury. He was living on pure willpower when he was brought through the gate back to the SGC, after all. Janet had said she'd return to check on the alien again after the debriefing.

Turning to stare at the alien, Daniel couldn't help pondering about his mysterious powers and outfit. The robe and armor he wore were something Daniel had never seen before and wondered why he wore them in battle in the first place; they didn't seem to offer much protection. The alien's weapon was just as confusing: a silver spear, about a meter and a half long.

The alien began to stir, groaning as he rose to a sitting position.

Daniel closed his notebook and put it down to a table next to the bed. He pushed the chair a bit backwards to get a little bit of more distance to the alien; he wasn't restrained to the bed since he wasn't a prisoner and that would just upset him. Who knew what he could do if he felt himself threatened.

"Umm, hello," greeted Daniel, unsure if the alien could understand him.

His greeting made the alien jump, clearly startled by his surroundings.

"Can you understand me?"

The alien didn't respond, he merely stared at him in confusion. Daniel could bet that without that helmet, he would be making a near perfect imitation of Teal'c when he raised his eyebrow. He then looked around the infirmary, deeply confused.

Daniel was quite happy that the alien's spear was taken to the debriefing by Teal'c, because General Hammond wanted to see it and it would have been dangerous to leave it here. The security guards just outside the door also calmed him down.

"What is your name?" asked Daniel, testing to see how he would react. "Who are you?"

The alien turned to stare at him and tilted his head, eyeing him. He turned to stare at the closed door, as if pondering escape, and then looked at Daniel again.

"_Mon-keigh,_" the alien uttered with such disgust Daniel was taken aback. It sure wasn't his name; he seemed to refer to Daniel with his statement.

"What does that mean?"

The alien didn't respond. He looked towards the door and rolled off the bed, keeping his eyes at the door. It was like he was afraid of something that was going to come through the door. He was beginning to hold the side of his head with his hand while leaning to the wall with his other one. Was he having a sudden migraine?

The door opened, and Janet walked in, wearing her traditional white coat. Her being here meant the debriefing was over already and the others were coming here soon. It was calming to know that Daniel didn't have to be with the alien all by himself.

"Oh, he's awake!" said Janet. "Ummm, is he alright? Headache?"

Daniel rose from his chair and moved to stand next to the doctor, "I don't know. It started right before you came in."

"Hmmm, that's weird. How long has he been up, anyways?"

"Couple of minutes. He hasn't done much more than stare at me - until now, that is."

Janet walked closer to the alien, making sure she didn't seem threatening to him. She reached out with her hand as the alien stumbled over a chair and fell to the floor. "Come on now, we don't want to hurt you."

Strangely the alien only sought to get more distance between them, even throwing the chair at her and speaking in his language. His headache also seemed to worsen, causing him to hold his head with both hands as he tried to move to the furthest corner of the room. It was like he was having this reaction to Janet's presence.

Maybe that _was _the case.

"Wait, Janet!" called Daniel, stopping her a meter away from the groaning alien. "Come here for a moment; I wanna test something."

Clearly not understanding what he meant, Janet did what he asked and backed away. To their surprise the alien's headache was clearly lessening in size. Janet backed away more, and the alien was getting better with every step Janet took away from him.

"What is this?" asked Janet, just as confused as Daniel was. They could only stare at the recovering alien with wide eyes, pondering this strange moment in their heads.

"I don't know," replied Daniel after a short pause. He had never seen anything like this.

Klaxons began to alarm around the base as the Stargate activated downstairs.

* * *

Farseer Aldreth sat cross-legged in her chamber, meditating.

She had foreseen what had happened to Keconrith and had sent troops to the surface to find a way to rescue him. She had also foreseen Nareleth and Colnir's conversation.

With the Warp strangely calm, nothing would prevent Aldreth from looking into the future, to observe the twisting strands of fate. She couldn't find a reason nor an explanation for this extraordinary occurrence, no matter how she searched.

The Warp also didn't give an answer to her many questions. Where were they? Who were these human-like aliens who used these pyramid-shaped ships? What was the strange ring that the humans used?

Where exactly was the Webway gate she and many other seers had sensed before the _Sword of Vaul _had gone after the invading fleet?

So many questions, and not a single answer.

Aldreth stood up with a heavy sigh; her meditation didn't give her any answers, only more questions. It did allow her to sent troops to the surface to mount a rescue operation, unless Colnir had already taken action. Then the situation could easily escalate into a rescue operation for _two _warlocks.

_I wonder if Quirath has recovered, _she thought, casting her mind over the Void Stalker class vessel. The warlock had been in critical condition when he was brought on board, having been almost crushed to death by the daemon on the planet. He only lived because Autarch Fetalque had arrived just in time to catch him in midair before he smashed into the ground and broke more of his bones. Quirath's wounds were grave, and combined with his excessive use of his super speed he would stay out of active combat for a long time. He had been unconscious ever since he was taken to the medical.

A few other Aspect Warriors had also been injured battling the daemon, but thankfully their wounds and injuries weren't that serious or lethal. Some would remain out of active combat for many weeks, however.

"Autarch, you must compose yourself," she whispered, sensing how Fetalque was still in his quarters, grieving his sister's soul. "Elarique wouldn't want you to fall into despair, not after what she's done for you today."

To her relief, she could see something in the immediate future, something that would help the autarch cope.

But what was it? What could help him?

* * *

**And that's all for now.**

**Okay, my questions: What languages does Daniel speak? He says over twenty but what are they? How did you like revelation of the psychic null? When should I make that character list? Should Jack become a daemon prince for the final showdown with him? I really ran out of questions, so this is all I got. If you have a question, feel free to ask.**

**The poll has been closed and here are the results: Undivided 9, Tzeentch 9, Khorne 7, Slaanesh 5, Nurgle 2. So the winner is Undivided!  
**

**Well, I hope you guys had a merry Christmas and have a happy New Year!**

**Bye!**


	8. Jailbreak

**Hi, people!**

**_Kaeim_: See my reply to Trife, please.**

**_Mike9_: Well, Low Gothic is the Imperium's official language and is supposed to be so complex that it would make no sense to us, so Daniel won't learning that, and certainly not High Gothic. Janet is an Omega level psyker (i.e. a negative one) and in this case more of a mix between Pariah and Blank, so she does hurt psykers and nullify their powers. I could go for an easier explanation that as a Blank she prevented psychic activity near her and hurt the eldar because they are a highly psychic race, but I am not too sure of its plausibility.**

**_starspawn07_: Well, I'm glad you liked the reveal (I thought it was corny). I don't think that's much of a spoiler when its clear that he's gonna be a baddie. Once again your suggestion was excellent, and I'll see how I can best make it happen. Just tell me when the characters start to be too numerous to keep track of, and I'll post a list of them. :)**

**_Lunatic Pandora1_: That she is. Please, see my reply to Trife for your answer.**

**_Imperial warlord_: Thank you.**

**_Tyrannifex_: Thank you.**

**_Trife_: I cannot believe I forgot to include these facts in my notes! I know of how they work, but here they work a bit differently. So yes, the blast doesn't vaporize in this story, only knocks back hard. Reason for this is that I never liked it and because Stargate travel is a bit different here as you'll see (i.e. not some near-instantaneous travelling of matter between two points via a wormhole) and I had to find a way to tie in our favorite version Hell. This also voids all deaths by iris closed gate, but not portal cuts. The zat is now a weapon that shoots electricity (the whole "third shot disintegrates" was seemingly too ridiculous for the show itself, in fact). I hope that explains enough,**

**Well, anyways.** **Enjoy!**

* * *

_Last time on Stargate Eldar:_

"He hasn't come out at all?" asked Farseer Aldreth

"No, Farseer," answered Aluhrial. "He hasn't done much more than sat in there. I believe his mind is in turmoil."

_Fetalque locked himself away in his quarters after his sister's sacrifice._

"Webb! Bannon! Parker!" yelled Sawyer, attracting the attention of his subordinates. "We're leaving!"

"Daniel! Teal'c! You heard the colonel!" yelled Sam.

_The SG teams were about to leave the planet, if not for someone unexpected._

Keconrith spun around and struck his spear on the ground, unleashing a shockwave towards the insolent humans, only for it to dissipate before striking down any of them.

_Only a pure coincidence saved them from any further conflict with the eldar warlock._

Energy burst from the Stargate sent Keconrith flying and knocking him out.

_In the countryside, a jaffa pilot found a strange artifact under tree roots, only to be murdered in cold blood._

Apophis walked away coldly, cradling the sphere in his hands as Korra fell dead with a knife in his chest.

_In the SGC, Janet and Daniel found out something truly shocking as they checked on awakening Keconrith._

Janet backed away more, and the alien got better with every step she took away from him.

"What is this?" asked Janet.

"I don't know," replied Daniel

_And now, the story continues:_

* * *

**Jailbreak**

Keconrith struggled to stand as the damned female human slowly left the room, probably to tell her superiors how to torture him even more.

The other human who had been there as he came to was still in the room, acting like he didn't know what was going on. Human insolence indeed. Like they could truly trick him into thinking that they didn't know anything of this event. Bastards, all of them. Their whole race could burn in the depths of the Warp for all he cared.

Keconrith leaned on a metal table as he attempted to collect his thoughts. With a passing thought, he realized that his singing spear was not in the same room as him; he couldn't sense it anywhere nearby, either. The damned humans had taken it away, leaving him without the means to channel his destructive psychic powers. He had to find a way to retrieve his equipment and escape.

The short time he had spent probing the male human's mind, the eldar warlock had found very little concerning his whereabouts. He couldn't understand the words that popped up within his mind nor the significance of people and places that he saw. He dared not dig deeper and force information out of the human, in fear that his comrades would react badly to his attempts to mentally traumatized their friend.

The human tried to speak again, his words unintelligible and confusing to the eldar warlock. Keconrith didn't understand anything he tried to say, but his tone was laced with false-sympathy and worry. Bah, like his act would really fool an experienced veteran like him; he had learned to never trust a human for they were barbaric, stubborn and arrogant to no end. There was no telling what horrors they would unleash if they conquered the galaxy after the eldar had died out. Their stupidity would only bring more death and despair upon themselves and the rest of the galaxy.

Grunting, the eldar warlock tried to stand without leaning on anything, his vision blurring and his head spinning like the cursed null, the damned blank, the vile untouchable, was still in the room with him. At least the ache that filled him was gone along with that monster.

His mind detected only two guards outside the door, but he knew that without a good plan to escape and knowledge of the humans firepower he couldn't get anywhere.

Keconrith sat down on the bed he had awoken on, knowing that meditation would allow him to clear his troubled mind.

* * *

The alien didn't spare him even a glance as he sat down, ignoring Daniel like he was nothing. He was slowly recovering from his weird reaction to Janet's presence, his legs unsteady as he walked the short distance to his bed. He hadn't even reacted when Daniel asked if he was alright and if he needed help. Granted, it was obvious he didn't understand English.

Seeing no reason to stay, Daniel left the infirmary himself, closing the door behind him and leaving to see the rest of his team. The two armed guards stood guarding the door to the infirmary, mostly there just to discourage all possible attempts to escape with force. Their guns were real, though, and could tear up anyone with ease, but this alien had shown to be able to do something impossible already.

Daniel reached the elevator in a moment and stepped in. Just before leaving, Janet had said they should go inform General Hammond, who was talking with Sam and Teal'c about possible ways to proceed, of this development. Seeing that her mere presence was painful to their visitor, Janet had gone first. It was better than risking the visitor's health.

"Hey, wait up! Hold the door!"

Surprised, Daniel grabbed the closing door and held in place as man in a lab coat came running down the corridor. He pushed through the elevator doors, allowing Daniel to let go and the doors to close.

"Thanks, man. I was afraid you'd take the last elevator down," the man said, breathing heavily. "Phew, that was a close one."

The man was in his mid-twenties, had short brown hair and a shaved chin. He was about a bit under six feet tall. He wore a traditional white lab coat that was buttoned up to the very top.

"It sure was," said Daniel, not really recognizing the man. "You're going to check on whoever came through the gate?"

"Yeah. I was informed SG-2 has just returned and that Doctor Fraiser is currently occupied, so I'm going there. Hey, aren't you Daniel Jackson, from SG-1?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Colonel Sawyer told me you brought a real alien back with you when you came back from your off-world trip. But how come you're here before SG-2? General Hammond sent them to look for you, after all."

"Oh, they said something about staying behind for a moment while we returned to Earth. I didn't really hear them." Daniel let out a small sigh as he recalled how his team carried the unconscious alien through the gate. "We were pretty focused on the... alien."

"Heh, yeah. I saw a glimpse of him as you carried him to the infirmary with a couple of guards. What happened to him? Can you tell me or is it classified?"

Daniel let out a chuckle, such an idea sounding ridiculous. "Of course it's not classified. I'll tell you later after I talk to the general. What's your name, by the way?"

"Oh, yeah... I forgot to introduce myself." He offered his hand which Daniel shook. "Frank Baker, pleasure to meet you, Doctor Jackson."

"Same here, Frank."

The elevator stoppedand the doors slid open. Both men stepped out, heading for a different direction than the other - Daniel for the briefing room; Frank for the gate room.

* * *

He was beginning to regret dismissing Colonel Sawyer and his group after their report. Maybe they could have shed more light into this mystery that troubled him and others. But they were gone now, probably in the middle of their medical check up upstairs. But what was done was done.

General Hammond listened closely to Doctor Fraiser as she told him about the strange phenomenon in the infirmary. It was strange to hear how the alien was feeling more ill the closer the doctor got. It sounded unnatural, just like the doctor had said it had been.

"How do you know it's not some kind of an allergic reaction, Janet?" asked Captain Carter skeptically, yet there was hint of hope in her tone, like she was begging for the doctor to say yes.

"Not likely," replied Janet curtly, crushing any hope of a positive answer. "I do not know of any allergies that would get a reaction like this from simply being in my presence. Sam, our guest didn't simply start sneezing like he was allergic to pollen; he was visibly in _agony_ when I got close enough to touch him. That is no allergy, it's something else."

"What is it then?" asked Hammond, curious about what could possibly be behind this. "What of Doctor Jackson? Does he have any effect on our guest?"

"No, nothing at all. Only I seem to have any effect on him."

"But how is that possible?"

Doctor Fraiser looked downwards in thought for a moment, until she shook her head. "I don't know. We could try and run a test on him to see if he has any reaction other people, but that would take time and would be even cruel if someone else does cause the same phenomenon."

"That is true," said Captain Carter. "But there must be some way to figure out why he is reacting to you."

Silence filled the briefing room as everyone pondered what could be behind such a mysterious occurrence until Daniel Jackson walked in. Unlike Doctor Fraiser, he hadn't changed his clothing during the time he was absent, save for taking off his green vest.

"Hi, guys," he greeted with a wave of his hand and sat on the chair closest to him, next to Teal'c and opposite of Doctor Fraiser.

"Good to see you too, Doctor Jackson," said General Hammond as the others greeted the doctor. "Do you have any information about our guest? Anything besides the fact that he feels pain when in Doctor Fraiser's presence? Anything at all?"

"Well, aside from the fact that I think he called me a monkey, I can't say anything, sir." Daniel's eyes swept across the room as he thought about it, until his eyes landed on the silver spear laying on the table where the general had inspected it during the debriefing. "What of the spear? He used it to do that weird shockwave of his back on Delmak."

"We haven't found out anything unusual with it - aside from being made from an unidentified material. By all means he should be unable to do anything like it."

"Maybe by returning his weapon we can convince him we are not evil like the goa'uld or Sokar," suggested Teal'c, speaking for the first time since Doctor Fraiser arrived. "He has shown himself to be quite hostile and distrusting towards us. This may be our chance to formally greet a member of an unknown species. They could be a formidable ally against the goa'uld."

"Teal'c is right," said Captain Carter, nodding. "We can't achieve anything if we just sit here."

There was a knock on the door, causing everyone to turn to face the newcomer. It was a young man in a lab coat, standing at the top of the stairs that led downstairs.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything, sir," the man began a bit uncertainly.

"Oh, hi, Frank!" greeted Doctor Jackson delightedly. "You're here kinda quick."

The man - this Frank, as the doctor had identified him - sighed silently before replying. "Yeah, SG-2 met me halfway to the gate room, said they were scheduled for another off-world trip in fifty minutes." He turned to face General Hammond who gave nod as a sign to go on with his report. "All members of SG-2 are fine and in excellent condition, sir. They report no problems during their short stay on the planet and are eager for the next assignment, sir."

"That is good to hear," nodded the general. At least SG-2 didn't get into trouble like SG-1 tended to do every time they went somewhere. "I am glad those four didn't get themselves into trouble unlike someone else I know." He glanced at SG-1 as he said the last bit.

The doctor looked confused for a moment before he asked, "Four, sir? Don't you mean five members, sir? I met five, not four, sir."

Hammond was instantly alarmed as were the others. They knew additional members who weren't supposed to exist meant trouble, a lot of trouble. Hammond was still puzzled how no one in SG-2 noticed that they had a stranger in their team, something that should have been easy to notice. This kind of a thing wasn't supposed happen to trained soldiers.

Hammond rose to his feet hastily and gave his orders to the already rising SG-1. "Go after them and catch this fifth member no matter what. We cannot take any unnecessary risks."

"What about you, General?" asked Captain Carter as she and her team headed for the door, visibly worried.

"I will alert the security from my office." He turned to Doctor Fraiser and Frank. "Doctors, go with them. Stay safe and be careful, both of you."

"Will do, sir," the doctors said in unison as Hammond rushed into his office.

He hoped the situation wouldn't escalate while he alerted the security forces.

* * *

The infiltration was a success: no one had detected him yet, and not even the group of _mon-keigh _seemed to think it was not odd for a stranger to follow them even if his illusions masked his true self. He knew this plan was risky and most likely fatal, but Keconrith couldn't be allowed to die in the hands of filthy animals. The human medic - by the looks of it - was a problem, though: although, he showed no signs of realizing the ruse, he would still report to his higher-ups who would instantly realize something was wrong.

Warlock Colnir stepped into the cramped human transport that took him and those with him upwards - a crude elevator, even by the Imperium's standards. He didn't know the exact destination of this elevator, but he sensed Keconrith dozens of meters above him, but he couldn't risk revealing himself at this point without knowing his destination and how to operate this crude thing, although the latter would be easily solved by trying the numbered buttons next to the door.

Looking briefly in to the future, Colnir saw a glimpse of himself and Keconrith walking back through the weird ring, its center obscured by the strange, watery surface that formed the passage between the two worlds. He couldn't make out any other details, and it was too risky to try again. These humans were not psykers like him, but even they would detect the energies of the Warp this close.

Thinking of the strange ring, Colnir couldn't help wondering how interesting it was: a device that formed a tunnel between two points through the Warp and allowed safe travel between these points, almost like the Webway in a smaller, less labyrinthine scale. It was fascinating, to say the least, and very advanced. He wondered who had built these rings; most certainly not the humans. But then who had?

The elevator, if such a crude thing could be called that, came to a halt and its doors slid open. One of the men with Colnir stepped out and he followed suit, sensing Keconrith's mind flare up as they sensed each other's presence in the same floor. The elevator closed behind him and continued its ascent, ignored by the eldar warlock.

_Colnir, such a revered seer of Alaitoc, _Keconrith mind-spoke, his words laced with surprise and subtle mocking. _Here to rescue me? Why? No support, no escort? You are brave and foolish indeed. Just like before._

_You can at least try to leave that behind you already. It won't be a long now, Keconrith. Soon we can escape this wretched place_.

_I warn you still, Honored One: the humans have a blank among them, a female in white. We must avoid contact if possible; our fate depends on what happens today._

Colnir gave a mental acknowledgement to his fellow warlock, deeply frightened by the existence of such an abominable human creature as a blank. He began to follow the human he was with, trying to keep up appearances. He sensed Keconrith's room was at the end of the corridor, behind the corner to the left, but the human was going to his right. He sensed the corridors would connect to another between them, leading right into Keconrith's prison. He had to be quick and subtle with his interactions with the human, walking behind him until the right moment to abscond to the side corridor.

They walked silently down the corridor.

Only five meters more and he would turn; it was so close now he could taste his victory.

Then the human turned around with his crude firearm aimed right at his face.

* * *

Aiming his gun, Captain Michael Griff faced the alien infiltrator who had been following him after the elevator.

Although he and his team had made it seem like they didn't notice the fifth member in their group, they had planned this ever since they noticed their stalker coming through the Stargate after them and walking with them like nothing was up. Hah, as if! They weren't idiots.

"Okay, buddy," he said, taking the safety off from his P90. "We've been playing your game long enough. Who are you? What are you? And take off that stupid disguise!"

The infiltrator's face remained neutral even as he tilted his head to the side, staring intensely at Michael with emotionless eyes. It was unnerving, but he couldn't give in. He narrowed his eyes and inched his gun closer to his target who grinned. Then a cold chuckle followed, making Michael's hair stand up at the back of his neck.

His target wavered and flickered briefly; the young human replaced by a figure in blue robes, yellow helmet with piercing red eyes and yellow armor that didn't seem to protect much at all with its strange symbol-like form. Strange gems decorated the helmet and armor, glinting in the light of the ceiling lights, while the armor glowed dimly, pulsing frequently. The alien was also surprisingly tall - about six feet and seven inches - and slender.

"Who are you?" Michael asked slowly, taking a steady step backwards with both hands gripping his P90. "What do you want? Why did you come here? Is this about your friend we have in here?"

There was no answer for his questions, at least not a vocal one.

Quick as lightning, the alien grabbed his P90, tore it from his grip and threw it to the side like trash.

Michael drew his combat knife and took a stance, holding the knife in reverse grip. There was no need for him to radio for help, seeing that his teammates had gone off to get it. He was wondering where the security forces were, though, seeing that there was supposed to be at least two guarding the other alien in the infirmary as per protocol.

The alien before him didn't react, as if the knife was just a children's toy. Michael glanced at the long sword he had attached to his belt and at the holster on the other side, holding his strange firearm. The yellow helmet hid his face from the view, and Michael had difficult time trying to read him. It left him at disadvantage if his opponent proved to be good at martial arts.

"What's wrong? You afraid?" Michael knew antagonizing was _not _a good thing when it came to strangers, as proven years ago while drinking in a bar. That black eye was a pain in the ass to explain to his girlfriend.

The alien spoke for the first time, his voice melodious yet harsh, until he stopped mid-sentence as if just realizing Michael didn't understand a word. Then he moved fast, faster than the human captain could react, and seized his knife arm before delivering an elbow strike to his chest and throwing him over the shoulder to the floor, the knife joining the P90. Rising quickly, the captain delivered a powerful jab to the alien's face, only to miss by an inch.

Michael unleashed a left hook that grazed the alien's shoulder, then a backhanded blow with his right, narrowly missing. His right hook was blocked, and a right straight struck him squarely in the ribs, followed by a kick to the shin and a punch to the jaw. Captain was then sent to floor with swift kick to the chest, dazed.

The alien sent a quick glare in his direction before turning around and continuing down the corridor, ignoring Michael like trash lying on the ground. He turned left into a hallway that led to the infirmary and to his friend.

Groaning and coughing, the captain rose to his feet. He was going to be bruised but now wasn't the time to worry about that; he had to do something about this, his team had let this alien in here after all.

"Goddammit!" he yelled, picking up his gun and knife, wiping a bit blood from the edge of his mouth. He hadn't expected to get into a fist fight with an alien who could dodge and counter his hits that easily. It was like whenever he thought he was going to hit, he missed.

Gunshots echoed briefly down the corridor before seizing completely, and cold suspicion filled Michael.

Checking his gun and sheathing his knife, he went after the alien, intent on fixing his mistake.

* * *

As the _Chappa'ai _deactivated behind him, Apophis wondered where he had arrived. Having had no time to think when he got to the gate, he had selected the address randomly and arrived on this strange planet.

"What is this place?" he asked, standing on cliff overlooking a field filled with dead trees and strangely shaped, rock formations. The ground was nothing but ashy sand, deep sinkholes marking the field at places. Cold wind blew among the rocks, playing its harsh melody for this forsaken world. The sky was dark, covered by heavy clouds that rained black water. The air itself was heavy, and Apophis felt like something was choking him.

This place was evil, beyond even a goa'uld like him, a place best left forgotten.

Staring at the sphere in his hands, Apophis thought he felt something talking to him from inside it, subconsciously manipulating him into coming to this place. He needed to escape from here - and fast!

A low growl drew him from his horrified thoughts, urging him to turn around to see the source of it. The sight made him wish he hadn't done so.

Before him stood a four legged creature of nightmarish kind. It stood at least at the height of his waist; it looked like a skinned animal, its muscles and spine clearly visible; two tendrils that ended with a bladed tip grew from its back, one from either side of large bone spikes on its spine; its head was a more of a skull with a maw filled with sharp fangs, long blade tipped tongue lashing around hungrily; multiple hungry eyes embedded in the bone stared hungrily at him; a bony tail whipped behind it and its paws stomped the ash eagerly.

This beast was a nightmare made flesh, a hound from Hell itself.

Apophis felt terror take hold of him as more and more of those creatures began to appear one at a time from out of nowhere, rising from the ground or from behind rocks or simply out of thin air. Those jaws seemed powerful enough to break his bones and crush his skull, and those fangs looked sharp enough to slice through his armor and flesh like a knife though wet paper. He would have run if those creatures weren't standing between him and the gate, not that it would help him now anyways.

He had no weapon with which to defend himself nor any jaffa to provide support for him - Apophis was alone with these things on this forsaken world. Only thing he had was the sphere in his hands, and it provided no protection from these beasts.

One of the creatures walked closer to him, tongue and tendrils lashing around as it neared. Apophis was sure it was going to end him.

The sphere glowed brighter for second, making the approaching monster pause and stare at the device. Others neared as well, only to sit down like obedient dogs as the sphere once again glowed. They stared at Apophis like lost puppies.

_Command them, Apophis, _spoke a voice inside his head. _They await to obey your every command. They are your... pets, now. Lovely creatures, aren't they?_

Apophis, too confused and terrified to question why a voice rang in his mind, walked closer to the beasts and watched as they made way for him to walk to the gate unhindered.

"Kree, creatures," he said weakly, and instantly these creatures gathered around him and sat down, waiting for him to go on. "Amazing! They are like tame pets." He let out a dark laugh as he instinctively patted one of them on its ugly head, earning a near purr-like reaction from it as its tendrils caressed his hand.

Now, he could return to his domain ever stronger with new allies to help him against the nuisance that was the Tau'ri.

Yes, the Tau'ri would fall and then the rest of the System Lords. After that Apophis would rightfully rule over all creation!

Apophis laughed again, this time louder than ever before.

His laughter was soon joined by a deeper, darker one.

* * *

The last guarding human slid down the wall he had been struck against, his partner lying unconscious next to him, both sporting a black eye and bruises in a moment. Their weapons lay on floor away from them, discarded after their opponent disarmed them quickly.

"Pitiful humans," said Colnir as Keconrith opened the door of his prison. He thought it best not to waste time asking about this. He did notice something that he had to ask about, though. "Where is your spear, Keconrith?"

"The humans have taken it, but I know I will recover it. Let us make haste, Honored One. The human security is not far away now."

Colnir could only nod, his mind detecting dozens of armed humans making their way towards them at all speed. They could pose a problem for the plan to escape, so the warlocks had to hurry downstairs and somehow activate the portal device.

"I know the way," he said, gesturing for Keconrith to follow. "Follow me."

A spray of crude human projectiles hit all around them, forcing them to duck and face their attacker. Colnir easily recognized the man as the same one he had beaten. He was still mentally kicking himself for thinking the humans were stupid enough to be fooled by an obvious illusion. Orks would be fooled, yes; but humans were much more intelligent and advanced than those primitives - even if they were ultimately still primitives themselves.

_Keconrith, on my mark we rush towards our freedom._

_As you command, Honored One._

The warlock of Ulthwé stood up behind him as Colnir faced their adversary, ignoring how the human was closing in and firing his primitive firearm to scare them. He focused on conjuring illusions that would let them escape unhindered, images of fire and darkness shrouding the two from view like the inferno had swallowed them whole.

The lone soldier stopped and recoiled in shock as the imaginary flames licked him. The fire may not have been real, but he didn't know it until he realized how the firestorm didn't burn him or anything else at all. When he did, it was too late to stop the eldar anymore.

Red lights and warning sounds began to blare, casting ugly color across the walls as they spun around in their places on the walls, their annoying noise reaching all over the facility. The two eldar didn't care, but they knew the humans had finally seen it necessary to sound the alarms. Too slow to stop them now.

Colnir pressed the small button that would summon the elevator, cursing how unreliable and primitive it was compared to the eldar's. He could feel Keconrith's uneasiness radiate from behind him as they waited, their psychic senses keeping them updated on the humans who were now dangerously close, just behind the corner almost.

With a swift move of his hand, Colnir grabbed his shuriken pistol and threw it into the air where Keconrith caught without so much as looking at it. They knew the coming fight was inevitable, but they didn't have time to waste in useless brawls with humans when they should have been on their ship, trying to solve the mystery of their baffling journey.

The first armed human who rounded the corner was forced back with a short burst of shuriken and illusionary flames. They weren't aiming to kill them but to give the elevator more time to arrive; and the less bloody they could do it, the better. One human, armed with the same kind of slug thrower as the guards Colnir beat up before, rolled from behind the corner and unloaded in their direction as he rose to a kneeling position. It didn't take long for Colnir to reward his useless waste of bullets by launching a conjured image of a fiery daemon at him, watching indifferently as he screamed in terror, thinking he was being burned alive. No one else dared to repeat his trick after the man barely managed to drag himself back behind the corner.

Finally the elevator arrived, its doors sliding open behind them. To the pair's great displeasure, three armed humans stepped out while looking a bit confused but still aiming their weapons at them. Keconrith quickly moved to strike them down, leaving Colnir to create an illusionary wall of ice to stop the other primitives from advancing before they had already escaped.

Keconrith punched the first human in the face, then delivered a kick to another's thigh and smashed an elbow to the back of his head as he bend over from the kick. The third one fired a short burst at him, but his rune armor protected him effortlessly. The warlock threw the shuriken pistol at his face, giving him enough time to rush forward and unleash a barrage of punches when the human staggered. Keconrith grabbed the pistol before it hit the floor as the human fell backwards from a particularly hard punch to the chin.

"Colnir! Now!"

Without a word Colnir ran for elevator, getting in just as Keconrith pressed the lowest button, closing the door and sending the elevator downward.

* * *

"Where the hell did all this damn ice come from?"

The sight was disturbingly confusing to Janet: a good dozen men standing at the end of the corridor staring into nothingness while complaining about some ice wall and fire. It was like they had gone crazy or something.

"Does anyone have anything to break this?"

The conversation between different security guards and SG-1 was getting plain ridiculous by now. If she wasn't making sure an SG-2 member wasn't hurt badly in his struggle with the alien infiltrator, she would've gone and tried to talk some sense into their heads. Walls of ice and fire out of thin air? Ridiculous, she'd say, but having witnessed the supernatural abilities of the aliens and heard the reports, she could easily agree with the latter. This ice wall people talked about was nowhere to be seen, though.

"I said I'm fine," groaned Michael as Janet kept making sure there was no wound or serious injury resulting from the blows he took. "Really, doc, I'm fine."

"Well, if you so insist." Janet was still worried Michael would end up in the infirmary even if she found nothing that could result in anything permanent or fatal. As of now, Janet detected nothing but forming bruises. "You can go. Your team is probably waiting."

"But, doc, it was my team that let this happen. I should be trying to fix it, not sit around doing nothing!" He was agitated, and clearly felt he should try to fix what was wrong. Admirable, but futile.

"There is no need for that, now, captain. Do as I say, and stay away from trouble for now, OK?"

"OK," Michael said and nodded, knowing that arguing in a time like this was stupid.

"Doctor Baker, make sure he stays away from trouble, OK?"

The other doctor nodded, "Of course, Doctor Fraiser." He was just returning from checking the two security guards who guarded the infirmary. They were beaten up, but would be fine in no time.

A simple nod later, Janet left the two and went to join the others. Yes, it was annoying how the nearest elevator besides this one was a few corners and corridors away, but someone should have already gone after the aliens and not just stand here complaining about the non-existent ice.

"What are we still standing here for?" she asked Sam. "We should go after them already."

"Well, we would but there's a wall of ice in front us, if you haven't noticed."

"Well, I haven't! I see no ice anywhere." This was getting ridiculous. Was she the only one not seeing things here?

Daniel walked to her side and asked, "You can't see it? You really can't see it?" The way he asked it made it sure he was hoping for her to answer positively.

Janet could only nod before Daniel grabbed her by her arm and quickly dragged her through the crowd of amassed security forces and airmen, most oblivious to the alien escapees. He was probably trying to prove something again, like in the infirmary before. Maybe the fact she didn't see the ice wall was because of what caused the alien to act uncomfortably around her.

When they got to the front of the crowd, Janet felt Daniel's grip loosen. Everyone else had also gone silent, staring in her direction. She was confused, not seeing anything, but she thought her presence had dispelled whatever had blocked the way for them.

Now that she had direct view at the elevator she saw the other three members of SG-2 lying or sitting on the floor, holding their heads. The two security guards also appeared from behind the opposite corner, both looking a bit roughed up, but otherwise fine.

Of course, what she didn't see was the great, thick wall of frozen water slowly disappearing as she neared it, until everyone else could see what the great mirage had hidden from them.

"Amazing! It actually worked," said Daniel as he finally let go of her. His amazement was shared by everyone else present. Janet herself didn't understand what was happening, but people needed her help now.

"They went down! Hurry up!" yelled the leader of SG-2, Major Louis Ferretti, rubbing his aching cheek. He waved off Janet's attempts to check his face for possible bruises or broken cheekbones, continuing to urge them on.

"Captain Carter, you guys take this one, we'll circle back to the other ones like we should have done," said a security guard next to the captain as they followed Janet.

Sam nodded at him, and he left quickly with a hasty salute, leading a half of the security forces back to the original elevators they had used to get to this floor. SG-1 and a few security guards plus Janet entered the cramped elevator as Daniel pressed the button that said "28", sending the elevator descending to the bottom floor.

Janet hoped this situation could be solved without further need for violence.

* * *

"Do you know how this transporter works, Keconrith?"

Colnir ran his hand over the ring's surface, feeling every gap and crevice on it. It didn't feel special in any way, but he knew it was a powerful device capable of forming tunnels in the Warp without seemingly any side effects. Maybe the strange calmness of the Warp was to be thanked for this baffling form of travel.

He had to stop wondering and letting his thoughts travel. He had to concentrate on keeping up the illusion that prevented the humans from the seeing either him or Keconrith. His amazement and curiosity were going to be the death of him at this rate.

It was notably easier to concentrate on one illusion now that the blank had dispelled his earlier one. The humans would be here any minute now, but at least they had deactivated their annoying alarms.

"Not exactly," was Keconrith's reply, "but I know these symbols and these triangle pieces have something to do with it. It seems like the inner structure of the ring can be spun." He stopped inspecting the device and turned to his fellow seer. "Do you not know this yourself? You came here through this, did you not?"

"The humans used an external device to activate it. This place lacks it, not that I would know how to operate it."

"Of course you don't," muttered Keconrith in a mocking tone. He still couldn't leave that incident behind him.

"Maybe they have other means to activate it," suggested Colnir, observing some humans inside the room behind a large window on the other end of the room.

"If they do, then how do you reckon we activate this... hmm?" The seer of Ulthwé turned to stare at the front of the room, his head tilted to side a little.

Colnir could also feel what his companion had: a baleful, soulless void slowly disintegrating the illusions hiding their presence. This was bad, very bad. They were trapped here like rats in a maze.

_I trust you feel her now, _Keconrith mind-spoke. _Her soulless presence is dangerous to our kin, if you didn't already know that. We should escape._

_And where would we escape? We are trapped here._

_The fates tell of us both alive, returning to your ship. We cannot simply let ourselves be killed! _Keconrith was justifiably angry, but he worried too much. The future was not set in stone nor crystal clear.

_And did you see how we returned there? I think not._

Keconrith's silence was all Colnir required to confirm his suspicion, but his reply was something anyone would ask in a situation like this. _You seriously believe we should stand here and see what happens? Are you insane?!_

Inside his helmet, Colnir could only smirk. He blocked off his fellow's psychic voice and undid his illusions, seeing no reason to keep them up anymore with the blank closing in on them. He could sense the shock and surprise of humans as they saw the two seemingly appear out of nowhere in a blurry haze of dissipating psychic energies.

The doors on both sides of the room opened soon afterwards and armed humans came rushing in, taking firing positions at the bottom of the metal ramp.

If Keconrith had his spear, he could have easily annihilate them all with psychic fury, but such was not the case nor was it needed. No, this situation wouldn't be solved with brute strength and skill at arms, but with cunning and deceit. If these humans could be convinced that the eldar posed no threat to them and agreed to let them go, then perhaps the eldar might as well put this incident behind them for the time being - after all, what use was there to these humans if they couldn't be used in one way or another? Good pawns were always so hard to find.

Then Colnir saw _her_, the woman in white radiating a palpable aura of wrongness and psychic void around her. She walked into the room with a small group of humans who all wore green and black clothes. She was also accompanied by a bald headed man with a white shirt who carried something in his arms, something that didn't belong in the hands of his race.

A raging amount of psychic power flared right next to him.

* * *

Janet recoiled as a sudden force struck her, causing her to stagger backwards until her back hit the wall. Her head felt like a stone was bouncing around inside her skull, and it sounded like a swarm of flies was flying around her head. The feeling was unbearable.

No one else was suffering anything that was even remotely similar to hers, which meant her strange ability to hurt the aliens had something to do with this. The guards had noticed her distress, but couldn't tend to her, being busy aiming at the aliens in case their calm demeanor was a trick; SG-1 on the other hand.

"Oh my god, Janet! You're bleeding!" said Sam in horror.

Bringing a hand to her face, Janet felt blood leaking from her nose, staining her hand and face crimson. Her eyes widened, shocked that something this terrible had gone unnoticed by her till now. It was like veins had just burst on their own.

"What's going on?" she whispered, desperately trying to stop the bleeding. "How's this happening?"

Daniel produced a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. He was clearly worried, but his eyes were glued to the aliens - or, more specifically, the one in black, the one from the infirmary. Following his gaze, while pressing the handkerchief to her nose, Janet saw the alien was surrounded by a near undetectable haze, his hands clenched into fists.

"Maybe he wants what is his," said Teal'c, calm as always. He turned to General Hammond who carried the alien's silver spear, urging him forward. The general nodded, understanding that the situation depended on this.

"Men, stand back," Hammond ordered, boldly walking forward. The guards lowered their guns and stepped aside to let him pass.

Seemingly understanding his intentions, the alien in blue robes grabbed the other one's shoulder, stopping whatever he was doing. In that very instant Janet's nosebleed stopped as abruptly as it had started, confirming her suspicion that it was his doing. But how? Wasn't she immune to their tricks like the illusion and possibly the shockwave back on Delmak? Maybe her immunity had a downside after all.

The spear literally leapt out General Hammond's hands when he was only a meter away, returning to its owner's hands who proceeded to aim a strange firearm he didn't have when he was brought right at his face. The guards reacted appropriately, aiming at the aliens once again, but held their fire for now.

Sam, probably thinking the situation might escalate again, walked Janet out of the gate room with Daniel in tow, despite his insistence to be left behind in case his help was needed. It was like he didn't realize he could do that from the control room.

Janet's head was still killing her and her feet felt unsure, so she allowed them to take her outside. She hoped this moment wouldn't turn into a bloodbath.

"Come on, Janet," said Sam, practically dragging the senior medical officer by her arm. "We can watch the situation from the control room."

"It's also safer in there for you and us," added Daniel rather seriously, seeing her still trying to wipe the last bits of blood from her face.

"That I agree, Daniel," replied Janet. "That I agree."

* * *

_Calm yourself, Keconrith_, ordered Colnir, grabbing his fellow seer by the arm, _if you fire that gun, you will destroy our last chance to survive this mess._

_But, Colnir! He stole my spea_-

_Do not argue! I know what I'm doing, unlike you! Sometimes I think you should have stayed on the Path of Warrior for good. _His less than subtle insult was not lost on Keconrith, quite surely, but he did not comment on it.

Reluctantly, Keconrith lowered the weapon, and Colnir took it back from him, holstering it as he turned towards the humans again. The guards had lowered their slug throwers and the blank had been taken away. Good, now to put his plans into motion.

Next to him, Keconrith stepped back a bit to allow him to proceed with his gambit. In his opinion, all this was unnecessary, but he let the seer of Alaitoc to have his fun. At least his spear was back with him again, and so long as Colnir could get them out of here, that was all he cared about at the moment.

Colnir unleashed a brief series of psychic messages, each consisting of an image directed into the bald man's mind. This was the only reliable way of communicating with lesser beings who couldn't be talked to in the same language. With these images he was instructing them to activate the ring and send them back; in return they wouldn't destroyed by the eldar forces. It was risky, but it had to be done.

The human clearly understood what he was trying to get through and nodded. He turned around and walked down the ramp while giving out orders. The guards moved aside, few of them leaving the group, including a dark skinned man with a golden mark on his forehead who was similar to the foes the invading fleet had used back on the other planet - a human who carried within himself a parasite. Colnir could easily sense the smaller mind within the man, but couldn't detect any hint of arrogance, lust for power or fanatical faith in his mind unlike the rest of those he had faced. This could turn out to be interesting.

"I hope you know what you are doing, Colnir," said Keconrith out loud, walking away from the ring much to Colnir's confusion. "I do not wish to repeat what happened on Medusa V."

"You still can't let that be," observed the seer of Alaitoc. He saw humans starting to press buttons in their little room and heard the ring behind him spin. He saw the blank inside the room, too, surrounded by her group.

"Word of warning," said Keconrith suddenly. "Stand back from the ring as it activates, otherwise you might get hurt."

Colnir had a feeling Keconrith had experience of this, so he did what was asked and walked away, keeping an eye on the ring as it spun and those strange stones locked; all the while humans kept bombarding his ears with their unintelligible nonsense over the speakers. Being this close to the blank was still uncomfortable, even with the distance that separated them. He sensed Keconrith was also uncomfortable, glancing at the human guards who still lingered inside the room. He was also fingering his spear suspiciously, malicious intent in his mind but he held himself in check. No need to spoil their success.

The ring activated, sending forth a burst of rippling energy that flowed back and formed a vertical wall of what looked like standing water. After a shared glance and a nod, the two warlocks made their way to the portal. Without looking back once, the eldar duo departed from this world and into to the long tunnel of swirling energy that opened before their eyes.

As they walked in silence, taking in the tunnel's interesting appearance, Keconrith thought about what he could have done to the human complex before entering the portal. A strong psychic shockwave could have easily shredded the whole room the ring occupied and killed a good dozen of the _mon-keigh, _but that would have been a waste of psychic energy. Like Colnir had proven, these humans were quite easy to manipulate, naïve bunch, so they might be useful in the future.

No need to waste handy pawns.

* * *

**And, that's the** **end of that. Sheesh!**

**I apologize again for the lateness of this chapter and the overall dullness. For those of you wondering: Yes, Janet's nosebleed was caused by Keconrith's attempt to mind rape her by directing enough psychic energy at her to overwhelm her (un)natural defense against psychic powers. I heard it happened to an Untouchable in Ravenor, although he was burnt out and possessed, so in this case it's a variation. As you all might have noticed, Janet's not really an ordinary Omega, since she can interact with others without irrational loathing or fear, but this could be explained that others have become accustomed to her presence.**

**Also: those monsters were khymerae the dark eldar beastmasters use. The sphere allows Apophis to control them and was manipulating him to visit the world. He's gonna be trouble in the future. And also, the SG-2 members are real, not my own creations.**

**How did you like the escape? It shows some rivalry and the eldar's manipulativeness. When should the eldar start to learn English? When and how should I introduce Jonas Quinn, and should Daniel die? Did anyone understand how I changed the gate travel? I think I was too unclear with that. What do you think of Apophis controlling the khymarae? Out of idle curiosity, one last one: have you ever heard of a horrible fanfic called Squad Broken? If you haven't, be glad. There is a reason it's listed in So Bad, It's Horrible. Probably shouldn't have mentioned it, but oh well.  
**

**Well, anyway. See ya** **in the future.**


	9. Discontinuation notes

Hi, everyone.

Yeah, it's me, and I regret to inform those of you who haven't read the summary or this chapter's name that I have officially decided to discontinue this story. My interest in the story was already dropping when a thunderstorm busted my computer and modem. Well, I got a new modem the very next day, but the computer has been in repair for _**MONTHS** _and the laptop crashes if I try to log in. I just got it back today and felt the need to explain my long absence to you.

Truth be told, I don't really consider this story to be that good; it's mildly entertaining at best. I was kind of making up stuff as I went and it shows. I should have planned ahead more, but hindsight is a bitch.

I must confess, though, that I was _**NOT **_an eldar fan until just a few days before DOW2: Retribution came out and I played through it with the eldar. The reason I even chose them was because the Imperium had been done already and nothing else felt appealing.

Has anyone noticed that the spell check is missing these days? Weird.

Well, anyways, just to let you guys know, I'm going to start writing another fic which has nothing to do with Warhammer or Stargate. You'll just have to wait and see.

Anyways, terribly sorry. I hope to see at least some you in the future.

Bye.


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